INTRODUCTION TO FERN LAISiD. 
49 
is it that so few attempts are made to render 
popular the study of plants ? Our artists on 
paper and canvas attempt to reproduce the gor¬ 
geous colouring of Nature’s garments. Why can¬ 
not our writers give us word-painting in their 
descriptions of plants, instead of using only the 
unpoetic language of science ? Why cannot more 
of the grace and beauty with which the Creator has 
endowed the natural world be reproduced in books? 
Amongst the most graceful and beautiful of the 
many lovely forms of vegetable life are the Ferns. 
Of plants they are the least prosaic. Representing 
the beauty of form as distinguished from the gor¬ 
geousness of colouring, they are endowed with a 
tender and romantic grace. To study them is one 
of the most popular of pursuits, to cultivate them 
has become a popular passion. But thousands 
would be added to the great host of Fern-lovers if 
Fern-literature were not so difficult to understand, 
and so unattractive. 
The tourist makes a dive into a country lane. 
Charmed with the varied and glorious forms of 
Fern-life which he meets, he resolves to study the 
objects which have had so pleasing a fascination 
