20 HAEDY TEENS. 
it chooses shade for its roots, but the fronds make 
their way through tangle and briar up to the light 
and sunshine ; and to do this the wiry stalk is 
often half a yard in length, so that sometimes it is 
no easy matter to get at the roots, and I chose 
rather the plants where the fronds were less fine 
and the stipes shorter. These, usually, were near 
at hand on drier soil. 
Phegopteris is not so happy-looking in cultiva- 
tion as Dryopteris, and it is even more trouble- 
some to pack. I took up a large surface of roots, 
sewed them in a flat package, and put them at the 
bottom of the box with the other Ferns upon 
them. In this way the fronds were injured, but 
the roots themselves were unharmed. About 
Callander I found my first Cystopteris fragihs — 
that loveHest of all our English Ferns— so easy of 
cultivation, so delicately varied in form, and yet 
so tenacious of life that the smallest division of the 
bulbous-looking roots will grow. I do not think 
sufficient attention has yet been given to this Fern. 
I have in my collection many true and constant 
