



6 BRITISH FERNS 
seedlings, hitherto unrecorded, and the publication of this, bringing 
in fresh material for consideration, led step by step to greater and 
greater enthusiasm and careful research, rewarded by what have 
been considered to be very valuable discoveries, which, from that 
day to this, have formed the basis of research by а number of 
botanists of high standing, and have been the means of re- 
deeming our British Ferns entirely from the stigma of being 
“ monstrosities," and therefore outside the scope of the serious 
botanist’s consideration. Now what the writer wishes, by this 
personal experience, to impress upon his readers is simply and 
solely the fact that any amateur could do the like, and that these 
results were attained entirely by close observation, “ poking and 
prying and taking notes” in a comparatively small collection of 
plants. In this connection, indeed, it is by no means certain 
that а very large collection is an unmixed Бооп, since attention 
is apt to be too much distributed, and this consideration leads us 
to point out that the British Fern hobby is peculiarly а hobby fitted 
for all capacities of the pocket or of space available. In the Mid- 
lands we may see very charming specimens in the cottage windows, 
a number of good varietal collections are found in back gardens, 
and, as we may see in the great collection at Kew, splendid effects 
may be attained where available funds permit of well-constructed 
rockwork in the open or unheated houses or frames. With one or 
two exceptions all the species are perfectly hardy, and hence there 
is no expense required for winter protection, as is the case with 
many plants. The ease with which British Ferns can be grown is 
abundantly evidenced by the thousands of suburban gardens in 
which the common species are grown by scores and hundreds in 
individual cases, and among which one may search in vain for 
any of those far more beautiful varieties, the introduction of which 
we advocate, and which would transform an uninteresting monotony 
into an extremely interesting diversity, plus greater decorative 
effect. There are, too, innumerable conservatories so situated as 
to receive little or no sunshine, and in which, as a consequence, 
flowering plants become drawn, verminous, and unsatisfactory. 
In such places our hardy Ferns would be perfectly at home, and, 
by a judicious admixture of the evergreen species, could be a 
source of pleasure the whole year through. АП that is necessary 
is to pay some little attention to their requirements, as set forth 
in our chapter on culture. Another interesting feature in the 
British Fern hobby, as a branch of horticulture, is the fact that 
from the patriotic point of view it is unique. We cannot take up 
any other branch without exotic aid, either in the form of foreign 
origin of the plants themselves, or of foreign varietal culture in 
addition to our own. In a British Fern collection, on the other 
hand, we deal absolutely and entirely with home produce, purely 
native plants, whose varieties are either due to Nature's inventions 
































