CHAPTER VIII 

 WILD "SPORTS" AND HOW FOUND 



Having now considered the treatment of Ferns when acquired, we 

 may next consider how and where the raw material is obtained. 



There is a very general tendency in botanical and also in horti- 

 cultural literature to refer to the many varieties of Ferns as " garden 

 varieties," ignoring thus entirely the fact that the majority of them 

 were discovered as perfectly wild plants absolutely disassociated 

 from garden culture, so that the term, in this case, is altogether mis- 

 placed. It is, of course, true that many now in commerce are the 

 outcome of selective culture ; but even in these cases, in the vast 

 majority of instances, they have sprung from a marked typical 

 form found under wild conditions from which they have varied 

 by virtue of the rule that once a plant diverges from the normal 

 path, it is eminently likely to vary again, so that the divergence 

 can hardly fairly be imputed to garden influence, but was already 

 inherent in the wild find. In any case the term " garden varieties," 

 as applied to the original wild " sports" or " mutations," is a mis- 

 nomer. Still worse in our opinion is the term " monstrosity " as 

 applied to marked abnormal forms generally, however beautiful 

 they may be and however much, as in the case of the " -plumose " 

 or extra feathery Ferns, their greater charm may be entirely due 

 to mere extension of Nature's normal plan of subdivision. This 

 term, however, is falling more and more into disuse. Despite the 

 great number of distinct forms which have been discovered by 

 persevering Fern-hunters in the ferny localities of Britain, it must 

 be borne in mind that our present wealth of these is the result of 

 more than half a century of persistent search by some scores of 

 amateur experts, so that it is obvious that the proportion of "sports" 

 to normals must be but one to very many thousands. So rare in- 

 deed are they comparatively, that it is quite a common remark 

 by people who have been induced to search in ferny districts by 

 a visit to a collector and a sight of his acquisitions, that " there 

 were heaps of Ferns, but only the common ones," apparently 

 assuming that the uncommon ones were obvious features in other 

 localities. In point of fact, it is rarely the case that " sports " are 

 found otherwise than as single individuals or, where more than one 



