THE FERN WORLD 
152 
fling their slender limbs across our path. Under the shelter 
of these spreading branches, where moss grows the thickest 
and the tendrils of ivy are most closely clustered, lie, snugly 
ensconced, delightfully-green tongue-shaped fronds of the 
Hartstongue, together with those of the graceful Polystichum 
angulare. At intervals along the hedges 011 either side 
are tall trees — elm, and oak, and ash — which deepen the 
shadows in our lane, the winding course of which is hid 
from our view whichever way we turn. The red soil of this 
lane finely contrasts with the green dress of the hedge-hanks, 
from out of which, here and there, little bright patches of 
the red earth peep like great rubies set in emerald. 
We have followed the course of this winding lane but a 
few vards from our orchard gate when we come upon a little 
scene that fairly enchants us. A turning on our left- — a 
tunnel through a great overhanging mass of green twigs and 
trees — but a tunnel uphill in which all would he dark under 
the dense canopy of twigs were it not that some sixty yards 
distant, where there is a bend round to the right, in the 
narrow lane, a flood of sunlight is let in over the hedge- 
top. But to get to this point, we must pass through this 
green and dense avenue, in whose dark shadows we are soon 
enveloped. 
Here, indeed, the Hartstongues appear to reign supreme, 
many of them with fronds thirty-four inches in length, of 
that rich, dark, shining green colour which is engendered 
by the exceptional shade and moisture of this cool retreat. 
They hang down from the hedge-top in long and graceful 
clusters, and fringe the hedge-banks in most mature and 
beautiful form. There is, indeed, everything in this chosen 
habitat to promote their growth and the perfection of their 
form, for congenial shelter is afforded to their fibrous rootlets 
by the matted rootstocks of the larger growths of the 
hedge-top. 
