CHAPTER III. 



FERNS ON THE LAWN. 



OW easy it would be to change the dreary 

 outlook from the windows of many a 

 house by a small amount of attention 

 to the ornamental capabilities of Ferns ! The term 

 4 lawn ' we use in the widest possible sense, and 

 as indicating not merely the level grassy expanse 

 of large or smnll extent in front, in the rear, 

 at the sides of, or all around a house, but spaces 

 of any kind immediately contiguous to a dwelling. 

 In this sense we include even the tiny strips of gravel 

 fronting tens of thousands of city and suburban 

 residences, no less than the similar strips of gravel 

 pavement, or bare earth which do service, as court- 

 yards or curtilages, in the rear of such residences. 



