THE FEBN PARADISE. 



It is not of gardens, in the proper sense of the 

 word, that we are speaking, but of spaces too small 

 to warrant the appellation of gardens. 



If a calculation could be made of the number, in 

 London alone, of dismal outlooks afforded by win- 

 dows which have spaces immediately in front of 

 them, unrelieved by the presence even of grass or 

 weeds, it would be found that the total number of 

 such outlooks would be a vast one. And the 

 number of people is still greater who are com- 

 pelled to spend a large part of their lives in rooms 

 lighted by windows of this description. Would 

 not the pleasure which could be secured by the 

 transformation of their immediate surroundings 

 amply repay them for the small outlay which 

 would be necessary to bring brightness, grace, 

 and beauty within the line of their daily vision ? 



The necessary survey of the spaces to be trans- 

 formed could be rapidly accomplished, and it 

 would be found that all sorts of shady corners and 

 crovices previously given up to dust and emptiness 

 would offer themselves as habitats for cultivated 

 Ferns. The corners selected, there would only 

 need to be a loosening of the ground upon which 



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