DECEMBER 257 



was a time when they were the vogue. 

 Then they grew rankly in every swamp 

 from the equator to the pole. But that 

 time is over now, and the ferns are quite out. 

 Then they grew of all sizes : tree-ferns were 

 common everywhere. Now tree-ferns are 

 practically unknown outside of the tropics. 

 The only reason why ferns have survived 

 at all is because they have sought safety in 

 their insignificance. 



THE FERN FASHION 



Plants grown from seeds are the fashion 

 now, but they are quite a modern introduc- 

 tion. The days when the coal was made 

 were the time of the fern fashion, and such 

 a thing as a seed plant, except in the primi- 

 tive form of the pines, had not yet been 

 invented. Now the seed plants are domi- 

 nating everything, and slowly driving the 

 rest into the cold regions and into the 

 swamps and up the hill-sides. Most of the 

 ferns take kindly to the swamps, and that 

 means death to all their exposed parts in 

 the winter when the water freezes. A few, 



17 



