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WAT is safe to say there is no class of plants 
As! which, taken the year round, gives such 
continued pleasure and combines such grace, 
beauty, and utility as Ferns. 
It is true they are flowerless plants; nevertheless, they 
are nearly everybody’s favourites. Without introducing 
an odious comparison, it may be said that orchids, roses, 
begonias, and other popular plants are attractive and 
much admired when in flower, yet, when not in flower, 
they are most unattractive and uninteresting in appear- 
ance, but Ferns are always beautiful. 
Even those who do not take special interest in Ferns 
readily acknowledge that flowering plants, or flowers in 
a cut state, are greatly improved by association with 
Ferns. As, however, this is not intended to be a plea for 
Fern culture, but a guide thereto, these remarks will 
suffice on this point. 
The vegetable kingdom is divided into two sections, 
one consisting of flowering plants, the other of those 
which are flowerless. Ferns are placed at the head 
of the latter class. They are of great antiquity, their 
remains and fossils being found to a large extent in the 
coal measures, showing that ages ago Ferns grew in this 
country in luxuriant profusion, and not only in immense 
