(DsUtUllbct ITgaltS. Natural Order: Filices — Fern Family. 
N England this fern is called Royal Osmunda, as its Latin 
name signifies, and is given a place in the ferneries of the 
most fastidious amateur. In America it is found in damp 
meadows and swampy lands, sending up its fronds sometimes 
three and four feet high, but in less damp and congenial 
places it diminishes its height nearly one half. There is 
scarcely anything more graceful than the Fern, of whatever species, 
from the common brake in the woods, or fence corners, to the most 
delicate tropical one cherished in hothouse or greenhouse. No glaring 
color to strike the eye, nothing but its own simple and elegant outline, 
and that ever-satisfying, restful and never-tiring tint of nature, the pre¬ 
dominating green. 
Dreams* 
T1THY, when the balm of sleep descends on man, 
* * Do gaj delusions, wand’ring o’er the brain, 
Soothe the delighted soul with empty bliss? 
— Dr. 'Johnson. 
ITTELL may dreams present us fictions, 
* * Since our waking moments teem 
With such fanciful convictions 
As make life itself a dream. 
ITTHEN sleep’s calm wing is on my brow, 
* * And dreams of peace my spirit lull, 
Before me like a misty star 
That form floats dim and beautiful. 
— G. D. Prentice. 
— Campbell. 
INNOCENT dreams be thine! thy heart sends up 
Its thoughts of purity, like pearly bells, 
Rising in crystal fountains. Would I were 
A sound, that I might steal upon thy dreams, 
And, like the breathing of my flute, distil 
Sweetly upon thy senses. 
TY REAMS are the children of an idle brain, 
Begot of nothing but vain fantasy, 
Which is as thin of substance as the air, 
And more inconstant than the wind. 
— Shakespeare. 
— Willis. 
ALAS! that dreams are only dreams! 
1 1 That fancy cannot give 
A lasting beauty to those forms, 
Which scarce a moment live! 
—Rufus Dazues. 
fl. 
