THE FERN PARADISE. 
But nature conquers everywhere in Devonshire. 
Even its iron-lined roads are subdued by the 
softening influence of plants and shrubs. The 
Ferns, especially, are heedless of the intrusion of 
the railway engineers. Dry, hard, bare cuttings 
may be made through the hills ; turf, heather, 
and wild Brakes may be stripped off along the 
valleys; rails maybe laid down, and everything 
done to make the scene look as commercial and 
uninteresting as possible. But the spontaneous 
influences which produce vegetable life will over- 
come all this. Bain comes down, and on to the 
softened earth grass seeds blow. Thistle and 
dandelion will send their germs in light and airy 
chariots, and Fern spores in countless numbers 
will find their way where the navvy has ruth- 
lessly stripped off the verdant carpeting of the 
ground to make room for iron roads. Nature, 
indeed, everywhere more or less asserts her sway, 
and clothes our roads and railways with her 
charming dress ; but it is especially the Ferns 
with which roads and railways have to contend in 
the charming county of Devon, to which these 
beautiful plants lend so soft and indescribable a 
4 
