WHEN AND WHERE TO FIND FERNS 



constantly as you chance upon the little wrinkled 

 crozier-like fronds, whether they are bundled up 

 in wrappings of soft wool or pro- 

 tected by a garment of overlap- 

 ping scales, or whether, like many 

 of the later arrivals, they come 

 into the world as naked and puny 

 as a human baby. 



Once uncurled, the ferns lose 

 quickly this look of infancy, and 

 embody, quite as effectively, even 

 the hardiest and coarsest among 

 them, the slender grace of youth. 

 Early in May we find the Osmun- 

 das in this stage of their develop- 

 ment. The Royal Fern, smooth 

 and delicate, is now flushing the 

 wet meadows with its tender red. 

 In the open woods and along the 

 roadside the Interrupted and the 

 Cinnamon Ferns wear a green 

 equally delicate. These three 

 plants soon reach maturity and 

 are conspicuous by reason of their 

 unusual size and their flower- 

 like fruit-clusters. 



On the rocky banks of the 

 brook, or perhaps among the 

 spreading roots of some forest- 

 tree, the Fragile Bladder Fern 

 unrolls its tremulous little 

 i8 



Fiddleheads 



