CHAPTER I. 
SOIL AND ASPECT. 
Naturally, as we have seen, Ferns love shade, moisture, 
an uneven surface, and a soil composed largely of vegetable 
elements through 'which water can freely percolate. The 
first condition is supplied by a northerly aspect under the 
shelter of trees or rocks, and of all northerly aspects the 
north-west is perhaps the best, for it is when growing under 
such conditions that the most vigorous forms of Fern life are 
found. Free and percolating moisture, the second condition 
of perfect Fern growth, abounds in hilly country, and 
hilly country presents also the unevenness of surface in 
which Ferns delight. The presence of running streams 
induces the abundant presence of vegetation, which in its 
turn, as it decays, produces the vegetable surface soil con- 
genial to our flowerless plants. Upon the sites, therefore, 
which Nature prepares by the association of the conditions 
which have been named, Ferns grow and flourish. 
The dwelling of the Fern cultivator may he placed upon 
such a site. His grounds may lie in a sheltered hollow 
surrounded by hills, margined by a wood, and traversed by 
running water. In such circumstances Ferns will often come 
unbidden, growing on garden wall and embankment, on the 
borders of the running stream, nay, upon the very walls of 
his house. But the conditions essential to their growth 
E 
