FKUXS AND MOSSES. 45 
MAY. 
" MANY a poet, in his lay, 
Told me May would come again ; 
Truly sang the bards, for May 
Yesterday began to reign ! 
She is like a bounteous lord, 
Gold enough she gives to me 
Gold ! ay, such as poets hoard, 
' Florins of the mead and tree ; 
Hazel flowers, and fleurs-de-lis!' 
Ferns that grow the stream beside, 
Where the leveret loves to hide." 
DAVYTH AP GWILYM. 
AWAY to the woodlands ! to the mossy bank, and stream- 
side, in quest of ferns to the rock or wall, the wild heath 
or sunny dingle there grow these loneliest children of the 
spring or summer ! and scarcely may the wind or shower 
fertilize the dreariest crag, or a wandering sunbeam visit 
the most secluded cavern, where you cannot find them. 
Take, therefore, a small basket, or tin case, and collect 
such specimens as you desire to preserve ; it may he that 
you have merely a space of a few yards, yet this, with judi- 
ciouscare, will become a Fernery. Observe, when gathering 
your specimens, the situations in which they grow whether 
on an horizontal or sloping surface ; whether rooted in the 
ground, or simply adhering to some weather-beaten rock ; 
whether exposed to storms or sunshine ; and, according to 
their respective growing-places, arrange them in- your 
Fernery at home. If you live in the neighbourhood of a 
glass-house you can obtain abundance of clinkers : if not, in 
this building age you will have no difficulty in procuring 
pieces of broken bricks, with which to imitate the rugged- 
ness of nature. Fill some of the interstices with crumbling 
mortar, for the reception of those ferns that grow naturally 
in the crevices of mortared walls ; and they will, despite of 
