One is often asked by those who wish to study British Ferns, where the most interesting specimens are to be found. The answer to the question is that it is always a wise plan to keep your eyes open wherever you go. Many of our smaller ferns are readily overlooked even by the keenest observers. The writer can call to mind an occasion when he sent away to a London nursery to buy an example of the Wall Rue Spleenwort. At the time he was living in a town, and without a long tramp into the country there seemed to be no hope of securing a specimen. A few days after the arrival of the purchased plant any quantity of the little Fern, in rather a dwarfed form, it is true, was found growing in the crevices of a wall adjoining a public road. The upper part of the wall being covered with ivy, the Spleenwort found a position beneath the protecting shade, where it attracted no attention from the passers-by. Of course, certain species of Fern are extremely local, largely owing to the fact that they require special conditions of soil, etc. It is therefore quite useless to look for such in an average district. Many species flourish only in rock crevices or on old walls. Others are to be found, as a rule, in rather elevated positions, and we cannot hope to find them save in a mountainous country. Finally, there are a great many Ferns which can adapt themselves to a variety of conditions. The actual circumstances of their surroundings will make them vary more or less from the type, and this must always be borne in mind when specimens are being examined. In another way identification is sometimes rather difficult, owing to the fact that immature Ferns are often very misleading in their appearance. Quite likely they may resemble another species altogether. It is therefore only when a mature frond bearing sporangia is discovered that it is possible in some cases to speak with certainty. Many British Ferns evidence a marked tendency to “sport,” and this is a fact which the beginner should always bear in mind. As a rule, however, even in the case of extreme varieties, a careful examination of the specimen will enable it to be identified. CHAPTER XIV THE CULTURE OF FERNS