8 The Fern Garden. 



by persons who merit the title not of fern collectors so 

 much as fern destroyers. Let every genuine lover of 

 ferns be on his guard both to discourage reckless fern 

 collecting, and protect as far as possible the few re- 

 maining localities of scarce British ferns. It is not 

 many years since I saw amongst a heap of dried mosses, 

 ferns, grasses, &c, in the possession of a lady, a sheet 

 of Tunbridge fern nearly a yard square. This had been 

 torn from its native site, carefully rolled up like a piece 

 of old blanket, and put away, and was afterwards 

 brought forth as a trophy, and preserved as a memo- 

 rial of the days " when we went gipsying." The value 

 of that sheet when fresh might have been about £5, 

 and no doubt any nurseryman could make a larger sum 

 of a good square yard of the Tunbridge fern. Such reck- 

 less destruction, such base contempt for the value set 

 upon a rare fern by those who understand its history 

 and its habits, and appreciate the interest that arises 

 out of its beauty and rarity combined, is to be con- 

 sidered as a crime ; and though there is no law to 

 punish the perpetrator, except in cases where there 

 might be an action for trespass or wilful damage, it is 

 the duty of every conservator of our native flora to visit 

 crimes of this kind with the sternest disapprobation, 

 accompanied with truthful explanations of the injury 

 done alike to natural scenery and to science by such 

 acts of spoliation. 



If you can dig up ferns in early spring, you may 

 plant them in your fernery at once, and if shaded 

 for a time and frequently sprinkled with water, taking 

 care always not to make the soil about them very wet, 



