INTRODUCTION TO FEEN LAND. 



is it that so few attempts are made to render 

 popular the study of plants ? Our artists on 

 paper and canvas attempt to reproduce the gor- 

 geous colouring of Nature's garments. Why can- 

 not our writers give us word-painting in their 

 descriptions of plants, instead of using only the 

 unpoetic language of science ? Why cannot more 

 of the grace and beauty with which the Creator has 

 endowed the natural world be reproduced in books? 



Amongst the most graceful and beautiful of the 

 many lovely forms of vegetable life are the Ferns. 

 Of plants they are the least prosaic. Representing 

 the beauty of form as distinguished from the gor- 

 geousness of colouring, they are endowed with a 

 tender and romantic grace. To study them is one 

 of the most popular of pursuits, to cultivate them 

 has become a popular passion. But thousands 

 would be added to the great host of Fern-lovers if 

 Fern-literature were not so difficult to understand, 

 and so unattractive. 



The tourist makes a dive into a country lane. 

 Charmed with the varied and glorious forms of 

 Fern-life which he meets, he resolves to study the 

 objects which have had so pleasing a fascination 



