2 
BRITISH FERNS. 
live in. Enclosed in these cases, the ferns flourish as 
luxuriantly in the heart of London or Manchester as in 
the free country. When we write of ferns, therefore, 
we address not only the gifted possessors of hothouses 
and conservatories, but those who cultivate their own 
little plot of garden ground ; those who ramble at large 
in the woods in search of such treasures ; and last, but 
not least, the many who, amidst mercantile pursuits and 
pressing business, regard the green inhabitants of the 
Wardian case as an oasis in the desert, their one link to 
the green fields and early country home. 
The true botanist naturally loves ferns the best in 
their wild habitat. He seeks them amid the crumbling 
remains of castle and monastery, and as he recognizes 
the coveted fronds upon the broken arch and the moul- 
dering tower, he feels, with Orwell,— 
“ And fern and lichen doing 
Their work of graceful ruin ; n 
or he penetrates the tangled woods, perhaps in the 
mysterious combes of Devonshire and Somersetshire, or 
the equally attractive dales of W T estmoreland, York- 
shire, and Durham, and he gathers ferns from the tree- 
stumps and from the shady nook; or finds them on the 
river's margin or beneath dripping rock, where those at 
Guy's Cliff are described as growing 
“ Drip, drip, drip, 
In that cool and shady cave, 
From the basin in which the moss and fern 
Their crumpled edges lave. 
Roofed by the living rock 
That arches over-head, 
Ever by night, and ever by day, 
Trickles that crystal thread. 
gp% /fajj 
I frW 
