296 
THE FERN PARADISE. 
can here also be as elaborate and as artistic 
as wealth may desire. Shady garden-walls may 
thus be draped with ferny fronds. Embankments 
can be thrown up to furnish abundant scope for 
the development of the larger species of ferns : 
deep cuttings may be made, whose sides may afford 
a semi-subterranean hiding place for the smaller 
species. Artificial rockery can be made in every 
direction. Fountains may be introduced in order 
more readily to supply the peculiar conditions 
of moisture, without which some of the graceful 
plants will not live or thrive. In the same way 
the soil necessary for the successful culture of the 
plants can be supplied ; and the aspect can be 
chosen with a due regard to the requirements 
of nature. To the rich, expense would be no 
object, and it would be lavished in the exercise 
of a worthy taste. 
But — it is important to remember — costly 
accessories to fern culture are not necessary. 
The author would wish to see his ideal univer- 
sally established. The most splendid elaboration 
which art could suggest, would be overshadowed 
