8 
The Fern Garden , 
by persons who merit the title not of fern collectors so 
much as fern destroyers. Let every genuine lover of 
ferns be on his guard both to discourage reckless fern 
collecting, and protect as far as possible the few re- 
maining localities of scarce British ferns. It is not 
many years since I saw amongst aheap of dried mosses, 
ferns, grasses, &c., in the possession of a lady, a sheet 
of Tunbridge fern nearly a yard square. This had been 
torn from its native site, carefully rolled up like a piece 
of old blanket, and put away, and was afterwards 
brought forth as a trophy, and preserved as a memo- 
rial of the days “ when we went gipsying.” The value 
of that sheet when fresh might have been about <£5, 
and no doubt any nurseryman could make a larger sum 
of a good square yard of the Tunbridge fern. Such reck- 
less destruction, such base contempt for the value set 
upon a rare fern by those who understand its history 
and its habits, and appreciate the interest that arises 
out of its beauty and rarity combined, is to be con- 
sidered as a crime ; and though there is no law to 
punish the perpetrator, except in cases where there 
might be an action for trespass or wilful damage, it is 
the duty of every conservator of our native flora to visit 
crimes of this kind with the sternest disapprobation, 
accompanied with truthful explanations of the injury 
done alike to natural scenery and to science by such 
acts of spoliation. 
If you can dig up ferns in early spring, you may 
plant them in your fernery at once, and if shaded 
for a time and frequently sprinkled with water, taking 
care always not to make the soil about them very wet. 
