174 
THE FERN PARADISE. 
It is not of gardens, in the proper sense of the 
word, that we are speaking, but of spaces too small 
to warrant the appellation of gardens. 
If a calculation could be made of the number, in 
London alone, of dismal outlooks afforded by win¬ 
dows which have spaces immediately in front of 
them, unrelieved by the presence even of grass or 
weeds, it would be found that the total number of 
such outlooks would be a vast one. And the 
number of people is still greater who are com¬ 
pelled to spend a large part of their lives in rooms 
lighted by windows of this description. Would 
not the pleasure which could be secured by the 
transformation of their immediate surroundings 
amply repay them for the small outlay which 
would be necessary to bring brightness, grace, 
and beauty within the line of their daily vision ? 
The necessary survey of the spaces to be trans¬ 
formed could be rapidly accomplished, and it 
would be found that all sorts of shady corners and 
crevices previously given up to dust and emptiness 
would offer themselves as habitats for cultivated 
Ferns. The corners selected, there would only 
need to be a loosening of the ground upon which 
