130 
THE FERN PARADISE. 
the scene was really charming to behold. No tall 
grass, no plants, or shrubs of any kind were inter- 
mingled with the sea of feathery Brakes which, 
waving in the wind, conveyed to the mind a 
weirdly graceful idea of fairy-land. 
The Bracken is, indeed, the free wild fern 
of the forest ; possessing preeminently a tender 
and romantic grace. It is the fern of the forest, 
as distinguished from the fern of the wood, grove, 
or copse. Transplanted, it will retain all its de- 
lightful characteristics in the fern garden. We have 
read in some fern books that the Bracken cannot 
be cultivated at all in gardens and rockeries ; in 
others that its cultivation is extremely difficult. 
But both statements are erroneous ; and the mis- 
take has probably arisen in this way : Great care is 
necessary in taking up the Bracken from its wild 
habitats, in order to secure a proper quantity of 
rhizome and of root ; and without this care the 
rhizome is liable to get broken. The latter pene- 
trates the soil to some depth, and to transplant 
it successfully, you must dig deeply down. 
The best plan is to remove such specimens as 
