THE FERN PARADISE. 
For some little distance tlie stream runs by the 
side of the road we are following, until, when 
the latter takes a sudden turn to the riodit, it 
disappears under a stone bridge, re-appearing 
for a brief space and then being finally lost as it 
flows away across some meadows. Peer over the 
side of the bridge and you will find little tufts 
of that beautiful Fern, the Common Maidenhair 
Spleenwort ; also the tiny Wall Hue, and small 
specimens of the Harts tongue. You will rarely 
find a Devonshire bridge, unless it be quite a new 
structure, without its complement of Ferns — the 
rock, or stone-and-mortar-loving species. Whether 
it be a river bridge, or a tiny arch that crosses a 
brook, its sides are almost certain to possess at 
least one kind, often many, of the moisture-loving 
plants. It is the moist atmosphere produced by 
the flowing Avater underneath which gives en- 
couragement to the Ferns. Sometimes a river 
arch is densely covered Avitli many varieties of 
these plants. You Avill often find the Common 
Polypody, the Hartstongue, the Wall Rue, the 
Scaly Spleenwort, the Common Maidenhair 
Spleenwort, and the Black Maidenhair Spleen- 
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