A PARADISE OF FERNS. 
33 
way the lane runs at the foot of a dark wood. 
Then continuing its course it seems almost to sink 
down into the depths of the earth, whilst high fern- 
covered banks rise on each side. For a part of the 
distance a limpid stream trickles down the declivity. 
The ground is literally carpeted with grass and 
wild flowers ; and everywhere, hanging out of the 
pollard trunks, densely clothing the hedge-banks, 
and growing along the edge of the trickling stream, 
ferns are to be found in countless numbers In 
places where the path has been cut deeply through 
the soft slate rock, the high banks of the cutting 
rise upwards almost perpendicularly, excluding the 
sunshine ; and there, in the moist interstices between 
the soft fragments of stone, are numerous species 
of the rock-loving ferns, luxuriating most in places 
where the water is percolating through the surface 
of the embankment. Growing in positions where 
its tiny crown secures protection under some small 
jutting point of rock, is the little Wall-rue ( Asple - 
nium ruta muraria), a very diminutive fern, with 
pretty little fronds. It has a great love for rotten 
stone and mortar, and is often found growing on 
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