126 , THE MAGAZINE OF HORTICULTURE. 



VISIT TO A LOCALITY OF THE CLIMBING FERN. 



BY J. L. RUSSELL, PROF. BOTANY TO MASS. HORT. SOC. &c. 



It is pres imable that the readers of this Magazine have be- 

 come acquainted, through the pages of that remarkable book, 

 (which treats of a pleasant and romantic life passed near a 

 little lake called Walden Pond,) with such a town in Massa- 

 chusetts as Concord, even if its earlier historical reminiscen- 

 ces may not have made it a name familiar to the ear. To 

 some, this name may call up associations of literature, of 

 assthetic tastes and pursuits, and of elegant and classical lei- 

 sure ; to others, it may be attractive for the sensations of the 

 homefeeling which it awakens : but to me, at the present mo- 

 ment at least, it is associated with a delightful day in August, 

 and with a pleasant ramble such as is seldom enjoyed within 

 an hour's ride of the city. 



My memory brings back to me a bright, clear, sunny day, 

 with a fine air, just enough to temper the rays of such a sim 

 as had been wonting itself to shine for successive day after 

 day amidst a general and widespread drought. Who will 

 forget the parched aspect of the last summer, the deep dusty 

 roads, the desiccated pasture lands : and even the retreating 

 streams and rivers, leaving marge and width enough on their 

 flatter shores for other investigations than those which belong 

 to the botanist ? And while the drooping and withering 

 plants of the garden testified to the ardor of such a sun's 

 continuous shine, it were no wonder that a similar aspect 

 should be worn by the wildings of the copse, the tenants of 

 the thin-soiled rocky spots, or the lowlier forms of vegetable 

 life which sheltered themselves beneath the trunks of trees 

 of a larger growth. It was not to herborize that I might ob- 

 tain much variety, that I accompanied my friend Thoreau 

 in our ramble and excm'sion on that sixteenth day of August, 

 1854 : but the rather to feast my eyes, through aid of his at- 

 tention and kindness, on the locality of the veritable Lygo- 

 dium pahn'itum (Sw'tz), and to gather therefrom such 

 choicer specimens as should grace my collection of our New 

 England Filices. 



