228 HOME AND GARDEN 



of a hedge-bank is its most usiir.l home, but it often 

 occurs in great beds on the flat in hazel copses, and 

 in these sheltered places will hold the fronds green 

 into the dead of the winter. Cottagers are fond of 

 a good tuft of Male Fern in their gardens, and in 

 my own garden I use it rather largely among Rhodo- 

 dendrons and for many positions at the edge of shrub 

 clumps next to the grass. 



It grows capitally in London in back-gardens, 

 areas, or pots ; indeed I remember reading a few years 

 ago about the wild plants that had sprung up on a 

 plot of land in the heart of the City, where buildings 

 had been demolished, and that for two years had not 

 been built upon. Among them were some flourishing 

 tufts of Male Fern. 



The most frequent of the Ferns in our lanes is 

 the Polypody. It seems to love our crumbling sand, 

 and to establish itself among the roots of trees 

 and bushes, especially on Hazels. The creeping 

 rhizome laps over the Hazel roots and " plashed " 

 stems, so that it is easily detached in a sort of thin 

 sheet with its accompaniment of short moss and sandy 

 earth. Not infrequently one finds such a sheet of 

 the Fern lying fallen at the foot of the hedge-bank, 

 when the crumbling of dry sand that is always going 

 on underneath has left it without support. Some- 

 times whole square yards of ground at the top or 

 upper part of one of our shaded sandy lanes will be 

 covered with Polypody. The young fronds come up 



