THE STRUCTURE OF FERNS. 



"What is a Fern ? This question, which many of our 

 young readers Avill be ready to ask, Ave will endeavour to 

 answer by means of a familiar comparison. 



We must presume that every reader of this little book, 

 even the youngest or most inexperienced, would be able in 

 all ordinary cases to recognize a flower ; not indeed by the 

 aid of the technical intricacies to which the man of science 

 would resort, but by means of that intuitive perception, 

 which has grown up with the growing faculties, and ac- 

 quired strength from the little experiences of childhood 

 and youth. 



We take for granted, then, that all our readers arc 

 familiar with the buttercup, the poppy, the brier-rose, the 

 daisy, the dandelion, and other common flowers, so pro- 

 fusely dispersed over the meadov.s and cornfields, and along 

 the hedgerows and by the waysides. The young ears of 

 corn, as well as the spikes of the meadow grasses, must be 

 well-remembered objects. These all afford examples of 

 flowers, or of masses of flowers. Now, the plants from 



