THE FEEX PAEADISE. 
aspect as in one particular fir copse in the imme- 
diate neighbourhood of Newton Abbott. The 
whole length of the fir plantation, as far as the 
eye could reach in every direction, was covered 
with golden-green Bracken. The graceful sym- 
metry of the scene was really charming. No tall 
grass, no plants, or shrubs of any kind were inter- 
mingled with the sea of feathery Brakes which, 
waving in the wind, conveyed to the mind a 
weirdly graceful idea of fairy-land. 
The Bracken is, indeed, the free wild Fern 
of the forest ; possessing pre-eminently a tender 
and romantic grace. It is the Fern of the forest, 
as distinguished from the Fern of the wood, grove, 
or copse. Transplanted, it will retain all its de- 
lightful characteristics in the Fern garden. We 
have read in some Fern books that the Bracken 
cannot be cultivated at all in gardens and rock- 
eries ; in others that its cultivation is extremely 
difficult. But both statements are erroneous ; and 
the mistake has probably arisen in this way. 
Great care is necessary in taking up the Bracken 
from its wild habitats, in order to secure a proper 
quantity of rhizoma and of root ; and without this 
236 
