FERNS, FENCES, AND WHITE BIRCHES 185 



"Where is the shade that ferns need?" I hear you 

 ask, "for except under some old apple trees and where 

 the bird cherries grow (and they, though beautiful at 

 blooming time and leaf fall, attract tent caterpillars), 

 the stone wall lies in the sun!" 



Yes, but in one of the woodland homes of this region 

 I have seen a screen placed by such a rustic stone fence 

 that it not only served the purpose of giving light shade, 

 but was a thing of beauty in itself, dividing the vista 

 into many landscapes, the frame being long or upright 

 according to the planter's fancy. 



Do you remember the old saying "When away keep 

 open thine eyes, and so pack thy trunk for the home- 

 going?" 



On this drive of ours I've been cramming my trunk 

 to overflowing, and yet the ideas are often the simplest 

 possible, for the people of this region, with more inven- 

 tive art than money, have the perfect gift of adapting 

 that which lies nearest to hand. 



You spoke in your last chronicle of the screen of white 

 birches through which you saw the sun rise over the 

 meadows of Opal Farm. This birch springs up in waste 

 lands almost everywhere. We have it in abundance 

 in the wood lot on the side of our hill, and it is scattered 

 through the wet woods below our wild walk, showing 

 that all it needs is a foothold. 



