THE DAWN OF SPRING 



a shortage of stock, cuttings of Coleuses, Lobelias, March 

 Ageratums, and Verbenas may be struck now. ^"^5 



Those who intend to buy the stock of bedding plants 

 which they require need not do so now, as it will give 

 them the trouble of preserving the plants for several 

 weeks. May will be early enough. 



Ferns 



Graceful and popular Ferns like the Maidenhair, the 

 Ribbon, the Hartstongue, the Spleenworts, the Lady, 

 the Male, the Ostrich, and the Royal are grown in many 

 thousands of gardens, some being cultivated under glass, 

 and others out of doors. 



Probably Fern-lovers increase in numbers every 

 year, certainly the species and varieties do. It is always 

 a matter of interest to look over a collection of Ferns 

 at one of the great flower shows, picking out old 

 favourites, and jotting down the names and descriptions 

 of new-comers. If it is a hot day we linger a long timet 

 because the very look of the Ferns seems to cool us. 

 By an association of ideas we find ourselves among the 

 wet stones of some Cornish cave, or in a shady Devon- 

 shire lane. 



In some private gardens one finds an indoor Fernery 

 — a cool and humid retreat where cunning hands have 

 devised a large, irregular cave from imported boulders 

 in so ingenious a way that one is almost cheated into 

 the belief that it is natural. Graceful fronds spring from 

 niches, water plashes down into rocky pools. Eye and 

 ear are alike pleasantly and slumberously beguiled. 



Most people love Ferns as much for the readiness 

 with which they lend themselves to tasteful association 

 with flowering plants as for their own intrinsic beauty. 

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