THE FERN PARADISE. 



this arrangement gives a singularly graceful and 

 beautiful appearance to the fronds. The whole 

 plant, too, has a broad, arching, drooping habit, 

 and when it has reached its highest state of de- 

 velopment, there is something singularly and 

 strikingly elegant in its appearance. 



The Broad Buckler Fern is not, perhaps, quite 

 so plentiful as the more erect and robust-looking 

 Male Fern; but it is very abundant, and is pretty 

 widely distributed throughout Great Britain. It 

 grows in woods, shady lanes, and sheltered hedge- 

 banks, and also on the banks of streams and 

 rivers, sometimes to a height of as much as five 

 feet. Being as hardy as it is elegant, it is ad- 

 mirably adapted for the open rockery, if kept in a 

 cool and shady corner. It should have plenty of 

 room to display the graceful, arching, spreading 

 habit of its fronds. For soil, sandy loam, peat, and 

 leaf -mould. But although it is especially adapted 

 for the garden rockery, it will grow readily indoors, 

 either in the green-house or in pots. Abundant 

 moisture and shade, however, are essential to its 

 successful growth wherever it may be grown. 



346 



