'THE LADY FERN. 
271 
Lady Fern are cut down on the approach of win¬ 
ter, during which the plant remains dormant. 
But in spring, about May, new fronds again start 
from the root-stock, in abundance; and in the 
height of summer the beautiful plant attains the 
full glory of its perfection, with its mass of light, 
delicate-green, arched, and gracefully drooping 
fronds, at the back of which lie in thousands— 
.ensconced under the partial protection of the 
beautifully frilled, and indented lobe edges—the 
little horse shoe-shaped clusters of spore-cases 
which contain myriads of tiny seeds. 
Most cool and shady of cool and shady nooks 
are the habitats of the beautiful Lady Fern. Down 
by the river’s brink, just where the spray-flinging 
stream makes the air moist and cool, and where 
overhanging boulders or covering branches keep 
in the shadow and keep out the sun, there will 
you find the Lady Fern perched, its droopingly 
delicate and lace-like fronds quivering in response 
to the touch of the thousand tiny water-drops 
which, flung by the dashing water, fall over it 
each moment. Sometimes, but rarely, when 
streams are not near, this exquisite Fern may be 
