vi.] ABOUT A FERN. 97 



be found without its cluster of seedling ferns. In the 

 deep lanes, too, where high hedge-banks, with their 

 giant smooth-stemmed beeches, shut out the mid- 

 day sun, we find them lighting up the gloomy spots. 

 Everywhere, in fact, where there is shade and mois- 

 ture, there are ferns; and so great has grown the 

 attachment of those who dwell in towns to the ferns 

 that we bring them tenderly home by the roots, and 

 as tenderly and lovingly care for them, bringing the 

 soft rich leaf-mould and peat in which to grow them, 

 carefully shutting out the mid-day sun and giving 

 them copious draughts of water. The lovers and 

 cultivators of ferns in towns may now be numbered 

 by thousands, but of these how many are acquainted 

 with the structure and early life of their charming 

 pets ? How many, indeed, know the real character 

 of these plants, their proper position in the vegetable 

 kingdom ? Of course, it is not necessary that one 

 should have a botanical training to enable him or her 

 to appreciate the beautiful in Nature ; but the bota- 

 nical training, or a mere rudimentary knowledge of 

 botany, will enable one to discover hidden beauties, 

 and wonders not thought of by the mere superficial 

 observer. Just as in passing along a country lane, 

 through a wood, or over a hillside, your superficial 

 observer sees but the big trees and the hawthorn and 

 blackberry of the hedges, with the masses of stinging 

 nettle and dock in the ditch below, or the tall stately 

 foxgloves rising above the dark clumps of gorse on 

 the hillside. If he mount to the top, he sees nothing 

 but heather and blaeberry and sky and distant land- 

 scape ; but to the enthusiastic lover of Nature, who 



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