i8o GARDENS PAST AND PRESENT 



reckoned the true maidenhair (Adiantum capil- 

 lus veneris) and the sea spleenwort (Asplenium 

 marinum), both of which are occasionally to be 

 met with on damp rocks or sea caves in Ireland 

 or the extreme south-west of England, but can 

 hardly be called hardy ferns, though they can 

 be grown under partial shelter specially contrived. 



The parsley fern (Crypto gramme crispa) luxuri- 

 ates in stony, mountainous districts in the north, 

 but only rarely succeeds well under garden condi- 

 tions. The elegant little bladder fern (Cystopteris 

 fragilis) adapts itself more easily to a damp rockery 

 and is often quite at home at the foot of a wall. 



The curious little adder's tongue, which is found 

 in great abundance in some pasture fields in the 

 west of England, is fairly amenable, but its rarer 

 cousin, moonwort, is not to be tamed as easily. 

 Of foreign ferns there are not a great number 

 that are generally useful out of doors; but atten- 

 tion may be called to two or three of great beauty. 

 The North American maidenhair (Adiantum ped- 

 atum) is a delicately beautiful fern, but quite 

 hardy, thriving in moist, peaty soil. It grows 

 abundantly in damp Canadian woods, where I have 

 found it companying with the white Trinity flower 

 (Trillium grandiflorum) and yellow dog's-tooth 

 violets (Erythronium americanum) and the pretty 

 hooded arum, which is familiarly called Jack in 

 the pulpit. The spreading semicircular fronds of 

 this bird's foot maidenhair crown the shining dark 

 stems, which are about a foot high ; and it should 

 be given a place wherever it is possible by every 

 fern-lover. Being deciduous, it is safe in winter, 



