The fern garden

BEGINNERS in Fern culture are very much perplexed by the abundance of books on the subject and their general unfitness to afford the aid a beginner requires. Almost everybody has written a book on ferns it having become the fashion to consider a knowledge of the subject rather a disqualification than otherwise. When the blind attempt to lead the blind the result can be safely predicated and no doubt the myriads of bad books on ferns that swarm in the cheap book shops have done their full share of mischief. We have fortunately plenty of good books on the subject but for the most part they are technical and elaborate and shoot over the heads of beginners. Some of my fern-loving friends have persuaded me to try my hand on a small volume adapted for the induction of the unlearned and unskilled in this pursuit and here it is. Whether it will supersede any of the bad books or take lowest rank amongst them is for me a solemn problem. But I send it forth in hope that after a quarter of a century of hard work in the practical part of the subject I may be better qualified to make a little book than some of those who previous to writing had acquired only a week or so of experience and a very dim knowledge of about half a dozen species. As almost every fern in cultivation has names enough to fill a small volume I have in every case adopted the names by which those recommended are best known in nurseries and gardens. The fearful question of nomenclature is thus avoided and every fern may be found by the name it bears in this epitome. S. H.