FERNS, FENCES, AND WHITE BIRCHES 197 



mown down in June, July sees a fresh crop, and their 

 spring green is held perpetual until frost. 



The Marsh Shield-fern of gentian meadows is the per- 

 fect small fern for a bit of wet ground, and is the green 

 to be used with all wild flowers of like places. One day 

 last autumn I had a bouquet of grass-of-Parnassus, 

 ladies' tresses, and gentian massed thickly with these 

 ferns, and the posey lived for days on the sunny 

 window shelf of the den (for gentians close their eyes 

 in shade), a bit of the September marshland 

 brought indoors. 



The tovo Beech- ferns, the long and the broad, you may 

 grow on the knoll; give the long the dampest spots, 

 and place the broad where it is quite dry. As the root- 

 stocks of both these are somewhat frail, I would advise 

 you to peg them down with hairpins and cover well with 

 earth. By the way, I always use wire hairpins to hold 

 down creeping rootstocks of every kind ; it keeps them 

 from springing up and drying before the rootlets have 

 a chance to grasp the soil. 



The roots of Maidenhair should always be treated in 

 this way, as they dry out very quickly. This most 

 distinctive of our New England ferns will grow between 

 the rocks of your knoll, as well as in deep nooks in the 

 fence. It seems to love rich side-hill woods and craves 



