THE FBEN PARADISE. 



reason,' says the Saturday Reviewer, ' why trans- 

 planted Ferns should not gladden the interiors of 

 very humble homes, given a rudimentary know- 

 ledge of what a Fern is, and an excursion or two 

 no further than Bpping Forest, though excursion 

 trips now-a-days are cheap enough to allow of 

 going further afield.' He adds that 'to distin- 

 guish the haunts, differences, and particular con- 

 stitutions ' of Ferns takes ' time and patience, 

 though so favourite are they with persons of taste 

 that there is scarcely one to which some helpful 

 verse is not mentally tacked, as, for instance, with 

 regard to the Lady Fern in Waverley : 



* Where the copsewood is the greenest, 

 Where the fountain glistens sheenest, 

 Where the morning dew lies longest, 

 There the Lady Fern grows strongest.' 



But, like every other study, love and patience give 

 the mastery of it, and it is a good thing to acquire 

 it by degrees.' 



Another Reviewer, evidently penning his 

 pleasant criticisms under the influence of the 

 midsummer heats, exclaims, 'A FERN paradise I 



