DOWN A GREEN LANE ! 
143 
In another moment, however, the open country 
disappears from view, as we pursue our way 
downwards. The path now descends so swiftly, 
that we need some care to secure a foot-hold. 
As it descends, it narrows to the width of a 
foot, and from its rugged stony character it is 
easy to see that it has been cut out of the rocky 
hillside, in the days of packhorses, and before 
the age of carts. Higher and higher grow- the 
moss-covered banks, sloping outwards and up¬ 
wards. Here, on our left, at the top of the high 
cutting—for it is no longer a hedge—is a spread¬ 
ing oak tree, thickly matted with gnarled roots 
of ivy. From out of the forks of this beautiful 
tree, just over our head, drop the pretty fronds of 
Polypodium vulgare . Below, the side of the 
cutting is densely clothed with Ferns of glorious 
growth. Splendid specimens of the Male Fern 
which, from their erect and noble-looking, yet 
withal graceful habit, fairly earn their designa¬ 
tion. Growing to the left of the Male Ferns, 
whose fronds are more than a yard long, are two 
magnificent specimens of the Broad Buckler Fern 
—the curling pinnules of the fronds giving to 
