6 BRITISH FERNS 



seedlings, hitherto unrecorded, and the publication of this, bringing 

 in fresh material for consideration, led step by step to greater and 

 greater enthusiasm and careful research, rewarded by what have 

 been considered to be very valuable discoveries, which, from that 

 day to this, have formed the basis of research by a number of 

 botanists of high standing, and have been the means of re- 

 deeming our British Ferns entirely from the stigma of being 

 " monstrosities," and therefore outside the scope of the serious 

 botanist's consideration. Now what the writer wishes, by this 

 personal experience, to impress upon his readers is simply and 

 solely the fact that any amateur could do the like, and that these 

 results were attained entirely by close observation, " poking and 

 prying and taking notes " in a comparatively small collection of 

 plants. In this connection, indeed, it is by no means certain 

 that a very large collection is an unmixed boon, since attention 

 is apt to be too much distributed, and this consideration leads us 

 to point out that the British Fern hobby is peculiarly a hobby fitted 

 for all capacities of the pocket or of space available. In the Mid- 

 lands we may see very charming specimens in the cottage windows, 

 a number of good varietal collections are found in back gardens, 

 and, as we may see in the great collection at Kew, splendid effects 

 may be attained where available funds permit of well-constructed 

 rockwork in the open or unheated houses or frames. With one or 

 two exceptions all the species are perfectly hardy, and hence there 

 is no expense required for winter protection, as is the case with 

 many plants. The ease with which British Ferns can be grown is 

 abundantly evidenced by the thousands of suburban gardens in 

 which the common species are grown by scores and hundreds in 

 individual cases, and among which one may search in vain for 

 any of those far more beautiful varieties, the introduction of which 

 we advocate, and which would transform an uninteresting monotony 

 into an extremely interesting diversity, plus greater decorative 

 effect. There are, too, innumerable conservatories so situated as 

 to receive little or no sunshine, and in which, as a consequence, 

 flowering plants become drawn, verminous, and unsatisfactory. 

 In such places our hardy Ferns would be perfectly at home, and, 

 by a judicious admixture of the evergreen species, could be a 

 source of pleasure the whole year through. All that is necessary 

 is to pay some little attention to their requirements, as set forth 

 in our chapter on culture. Another interesting feature in the 

 British Fern hobby, as a branch of horticulture, is the fact that 

 from the patriotic point of view it is unique. We cannot take up 

 any other branch without exotic aid, either in the form of foreign 

 origin of the plants themselves, or of foreign varietal culture in 

 addition to our own. In a British Fern collection, on the other 

 hand, we deal absolutely and entirely with home produce, purely 

 native plants, whose varieties are either due to Nature's inventions 



