34 



The Fern Garden. 



as if the dryads themselves attended to the planting. 

 I could mention hundreds of private gardeners where 

 I have seen beautiful ferneries under glass, but the 

 reader would gain nothing by the list. Pardon my 

 boldness, but in truth I have scarcely met with a fernery 

 to surpass Mrs. Hibberd's in beauty and interest, though 

 it is on an extremely small scale. I will tell you some- 

 thing about it. 



Given, a recess in the walls of a house, and what shall 

 we do with it ? It is of no use to put the question to 

 echo, who is represented as giving answers as required, 

 because an honest echo could only reply, " Do with it I" 

 which, at the best, would be ambiguous, and might be 

 supposed to mean, " Do away with it \" In a certain 

 sense that is just what I have done ; for, by converting 

 the recess into a fernery, it is a recess no more, but a 

 part and parcel of the garden, and yet not utterly sepa- 

 rated from the dwelling-house. Please allow a few 

 hap-hazard lines to represent the case in the first in- 

 stance. If you suppose A to be one side of the house, 



4 



and C another side, then B will be the recess or hole in 

 the wall requiring to be occupied in some way or other, 

 or by some construction to be blotted out. Letter A 



