HAKDY FERNS. 
CHAPTER I. 
As odours, press'd in summer hours 
From summer's bloom, remain 
To soothe and comfort, till the flowers 
Of spring revive again ; 
So Memory's magic wand restores 
Gladness too bright to last ; 
And in a flood of music pom'S 
Sweet echoes of the past. 
Many years have passed away since my intense 
love for the vegetable world centred itself in Hardy 
Ferns I loved them, not because they were the 
fashion, but because they pleased me — pleased me 
in a manner that even wild flowers failed to do. I 
think one reason for this was that I felt the study 
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