jrernerj. 267 



The common brake or bracken (Pteris agut- 

 lino), while distinct from the generality of ferns, 

 is not worth cultivating, unless on the margins 

 of woods, or places where little else will thrive. 

 It spreads with great rapidity, and soon becomes 

 a pest if placed among other ferns. The big 

 moonwort (Botrychhtm vtrgintcum), the largest 

 of the species, differs essentially from most of 

 the genus. It is termed "a beautiful fern," but 

 does not show to advantage when planted with 

 others of its tribe. 



The shield-ferns, or Aspidtecp, number many 

 of the noblest of hardy ferns. Of these, the de- 

 ciduous A. aculeatum and A. Goldianum, the 

 evergreen A. achrosticoides, A. cristatum, A. 

 filix-mas, A. marginale, and A. spinulosum 

 are among the finest, best known, and most 

 easily grown. Nearly all of the species, what- 

 ever their size, are delicately beautiful, the finely 

 serrated plumes being a conspicuous character- 

 istic. The woods where I find the ruffed grouse 

 and the large white hares in winter would seem 

 lonely without the freshness of the Christmas- 

 fern and the perennial verdure of the evergreen 

 wood-fern. The frost, whose sharp scythe has 

 cut off the foliage and the flora, seems only to 

 have brought out a richer green in these flower- 

 less plants, that never look half so lovely as they 



