140 
THE FERN PARADISE. 
other. In the smaller ones the division be- 
tween the lobes is less marked ; and this 
is the case in every plant with the lobes 
which lie near the points of the leaflets. 
The delightful, but most delicate, fronds of 
the Lady Fern are cut down on the approach 
of winter, during which the plant remains 
dormant. But in spring, about May, new 
fronds again start from the root-stock in 
abundance ; and in the height of summer the 
beautiful plant attains the full glory of its 
perfection, with its mass of light delicate- 
green, arched and gracefully-drooping fronds, 
at the back of which lie in thousands, en- 
sconced under the protection of the charming, 
frilled, and indented lobes, the little horse- 
shoe shaped cases which contain its myriads 
of tiny seeds. 
Most cool and shady of cool and shady 
nooks are the habitats of the beautiful Lady 
Fern. Down by the river’s brink, just where 
the spray-flinging stream makes the air moist 
and cool, and where overhanging boulders or 
