The Garden in Spring 



not as yet invented ; archery was not becoming 

 to every one's figure. The collection of fern- 

 fronds had many merits ; it took the young 

 ladies into fresh air and ennobling scenery ; it 

 developed a power of observation and a sense 

 of order, and it may have had even more 

 important advantages. It is possible that the 

 assistance of a strong arm, the help of a willing 

 hand, was sometimes necessary upon a steep 

 hill-side, or here in Madeira in the passage of a 

 precipitous levada. 



With the recrudescence of the early Victorian 

 fashions, especially as regards hats, I have 

 observed during the last year or two some 

 revival of interest in crushed ferns. But it 

 was only a flicker ; fashions change quickly 

 nowadays, and with the abrupt disappearance 

 again of the mid-nineteenth century mode, the 

 demand for blotting-paper has slackened. From 

 a botanical point of view this is perhaps not to 

 be deplored. Were a serious epidemic of frond- 

 snatching to set in, the stalwart young women 

 of to-day, deserting the tennis-lawn for the 

 mountains, might make short work of the 

 Madeira fernery. The threatened danger, we 

 may hope, is past, and in the forests of the 



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