CHAPTER XIV 



FERNS AND WILD FLOWERS 



" Wood-sorrel and wild violet 

 Ease my soul's fret." 



" How I do envy you your bank of Ferns " is the remark 

 made to me almost daily during the summer months 

 when the green background of our outdoor fernery 

 looks so pretty as it throws up the colours of the flower- 

 beds on the little lawn that flanks it. This is the 

 brightest bit of the whole garden, and its beauty is very 

 largely due to the Ferns. Then we get talking about 

 Ferns, and everybody says, " What a pity Ferns are out 

 of fashion." This is what I think. There was a Fern- 

 craze about five and thirty years ago, when crinolines 

 were worn, and long riding-habits, and every drawing- 

 room had its tank of sea-flowers ; but times have 

 changed, and the day of the outdoor fernery is over. 

 One reason given for its disappearance is what people say 

 is its untidiness. "We cannot have Ferns near the 

 house, because they look ragged in autumn and winter." 

 This is what I am told so constantly, but do not agree 

 with at all. In the first place, to my way of thinking. 

 Ferns are picturesque all the year round, not less so when 

 they are brown and yellow than at the time of their 

 greenest luxuriance, and hardy Ferns are the very best 

 things in the world for Londoners to cultivate, because 



their foliage is so tolerant of smoke-poison, even in the 



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