THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 
227 
■contempt for the value set upon a rare feru by those who understand 
its history and its habits, and appreciate the interest that arises out 
of its beauty and rarity combined, is to be considered as a crime ; 
and, though there is no law to punish the perpetrator, except in 
cases where there might be an action for trespass or wilful damage, 
it is the duty of every conservator of our native flora to visit crimes 
of this kind with the sternest disapprobation, accompanied with 
truthful explanations of the injury done alike to natural scenery and 
to science, by such acts of spoliation. 
If you cau dig up ferns in early spring, you may plant them in 
your fernery at once ; and, if shaded for a time, and frequently 
sprinkled with water, taking care always not to make the soil about 
them very wet, they will soon begin to grow vigorously, and after 
that patience is the only quality required on your part to ensure 
your proper reward. 
You will eoon learn to distinguish ferns from all other plants 
when you meet with them. When you find a fern, take notice of 
the soil and situation it is growing iu, and in attempting its cultiva- 
tion imitate those conditions as nearly as possible. The pretty wall 
rue spleenwort loves to grow in the full sun, upon aud amongst 
sandstone rocks. You will see plentv of it on the approaches to 
the Suspension Bridge at Clifton, and you may find the common 
maidenhair spleenwort keeping it company if you look sharp. It 
is in the shady, dank, almost dripping hollow, or on the slope of a 
water-course, that you are most likely to find the lovely lady-fern, 
the hard fern, and the royal osmund, yet these will sometimes make 
a bonny show upon dry banks beside a dusty highway, where, 
perhaps, for miles the common lastrea is the prevailing fern of the 
district. In Eppiug Forest there are thousands of pollard trees, on 
the awkward stems of which are perched, like wreaths of honour, 
tufts of the common polypody. If you want to see the bracken you 
need not travel far, but if you would cultivate it you must notice 
that it grows to its grandest stature on mellow, yellowish loam, and 
is rather poor and stunted on sand and peat, though not always so. 
Observe always how they look when they are at home, and thereby 
learn to persuade them to believe themselves at home when you 
have planted them in the garden. Some thrive on perpendicular 
walls of stone and brick, others in the moist woodland shade, 
others on the bleak mountain top, and many a glorious group may 
be found on the sides and roofs of caverns, which they make like 
fairy palaces with their green feathery plumes and golden dottings 
of mysterious fruit. However many lessons you may learn of the 
habits of the several kinds of ferns, there should be one lesson im- 
pressed upon your mind more deeply than any — it is this, that, 
much as they love moisture, it is a most rare thing to see a fern 
growing with its roots naturally in water. When they congregate, 
as it were, to drink of the brook that passes by, they keep their 
feet clear away from the current, and lodge safely on the slopes that 
dip towards the water; or stand proudly upon little islets that 
compel the stream to siug as it passes them ; or on banks and hum- 
mocks round about where they can enjoy the tiny splashes the 
August. 
