1 10 ABOUT A FERN. [CHAP. 



from all parts of our sloping lane; here, from every 

 space between the thin flakes of rock, the dark-green 

 shining fronds of the Black Maidenhair Spleenwort, 

 supported by their long wiry black or purple stipides, 

 grow up towards the light, almost hiding the wall on 

 which it grows. If we could only transport a dozen 

 yards of such a wall, with its ferny occupants intact, 

 to our garden in the suburbs of the Metropolis! 



With descriptions of the natural ferneries of North 

 Devon, Mr. F. G. Heath has made us familiar in his 

 books, " The Fern Paradise" and " The Fern World." 

 Here is a quotation from the latter work : 



" Under overarching trees, which throw the path 

 into cool shadow, we wind round and round, de- 

 scending as we go. On our right there is a sloping 

 tree-covered bank, dotted with shuttlecock shapes of 

 Fern ; on the left a high bank, richly clothed with 

 grass and Fern, and crowned with trees which spread 

 their fresh-green branches over the road. For some 

 little way the character of the scenery remains the 

 same, but in a few moments we come upon a bend 

 in the road round to the left. Turning round this 

 bend, a gap in the leafy curtain on the right affords 

 us a prospect which compels us to pause. Away just 

 in front as we turn to the right, two hills, densely 

 clothed with a dark mantle of trees, sweep down into 

 a combe. Their sides interlace midway, but the 

 deepest part of the combe is hidden from view. 

 Over the point where the hills intersect each other 

 we get a peep of the sea. As the eye passes midway 

 across the bosky side of the hill to the left we sight 

 a cliff rising sheer from the sea, and in the foreground 



