28 FERNS 



Adiantum pedatum, growing so luxuriantly, 

 enhances by contrast the dignity of the 

 stately guardians overhead. The maiden- 

 hair is always beautiful in sun or shade, 

 accepting whatever soil is offered, and, if 

 taken up as directed, grows on with little 

 interruption. 



The chief beauty of this fern is architec- 

 tural. The two branches of the stalk diverge 

 at an angle of perhaps 50°, rise obliquely^ 

 gracefully recurving until they meet again. 

 From the outside of the curve each branch 

 sends out from two to seven diverging branch- 

 lets of varying length. Thus the whole frond 

 is from five or six to fifteen or even eighteen 

 inches broad, and, while somewhat funnel 

 shaped in the centre, radiates horizontally 

 toward the circumference, and is the most 

 graceful thing in the fern creation (Plate 7). 



Another advantage in associating these two 

 ferns in the border is that the texture of the 

 maidenhair, although delicately membranous, 

 is very elastic, and, therefore, holds its fresh- 

 ness much longer than the ostrich fern, which 



