fronds, and each frond produces more than a million seeds. The ferns do not bear any flowers, but the seeds are generally found on the back of the frond, either in lines, or in little clusters like spots. The common shield fern* is so called, because its clusters of seeds are in the shape of a little buckler. If you look at one of these through a microscope, you will see that it is covered with a thin skin or membrane, that is attached by its centre to the leaf, something like a button. Beneath this membrane, which is called the indusium, the seeds are enclosed in tiny bags, Small portion of Frond magnified 5 diam. Indusium magnified 20 diam. that grow to the frond by short stalks, and are named sporangia, because they hold the seeds * Aspidium. or sporules. When the seeds are getting ripe, the outer membrane bursts at the edges, and the little bags pop out, and are seen, as you will understand by looking at the picture. The different species of ferns used to be distinguished from each other, entirely by the shape of their fronds, and the manner in which their clusters of seeds are placed. They were afterwards arranged according to the form of the indusium, and the way in which it bursts when the seeds are ripe. But now, great stress is laid upon the veins in the leaves, which direction they take, whether they are simple or divided, and where they disappear. Because the fern seed is so extremely small, its existence was for a long time doubted, and thought as great an absurdity as the philosopher's stone; but now the microscope has brought it clearly before our sight, and nobody thinks of doubting its existence any longer. There is an old story still kept up among the country people in Worcestershire. They believe that the fern produces its seed only at twelve o'clock on midsummer night, and that to catch it, twelve pewter plates must be taken. This marvellous seed, they pretend, will pass through eleven of the plates, and rest upon the twelfth. Even then the greatest dexterity is needed, for mischievous sprites are always at hand to catch it as it falls. But the fern seed, when once collected, is said to have the power of making its owner invisible whenever he pleases. I need scarcely tell you how untrue these old stories are, and it is to be hoped that even amongst the most ignorant, few persons can be found to believe them. In some of the ferns, the seeds grow round the edge of the frond, and not upon the back. In the adder's tongue,* the seed-cases are arranged in a double row upon a spike, something like the tongue of a snake. When it is quite young, the spike is coiled round and round, and lies close at the bottom of the frond, out of sight. But as the seeds get larger, and want the light and air to ripen them, it gradually rises in a spiral manner very much like a corkscrew. The adder's tongue is generally distributed over England; it sometimes covers whole acres of meadow land, and is considered by the farmer as a serious injury to his crop of hay. Ophioglossum vulgare. H A. Adder's tongue, natural size. C. Seed-case, highly magnified. B. Portion of the spike, magnified. D. Seeds, highly magnified. The common brake* is the most abundant of all our English Ferns, and is found upon every moor and common throughout the kingdom. It varies in size according to the soil in which it grows; in moist shady woods it attains an enormous size, and is many feet high; but in dry *Pteris aquilina. sandy places, it becomes very diminutive, and is often not more than ten inches. It contains a great deal of alkaline juice, and the poor weavers of Yorkshire turn it to very good account. When they have finished weaving a piece of cloth, the next thing to be done is to take it to the mill, that it may undergo the process of fulling. This process makes the cloth of a thicker and closer texture, for it is beaten a long time with wooden hammers, which causes the stuff to shrink, and thus brings the threads nearer together. But it is necessary that the cloth should be entirely free from grease, and to cleanse it, soft soap is generally used. The brake's fern is cheaper than soap, because it costs the weaver nothing, and he sends his wife and children to the fields and commons to collect it. He then throws it into the mill with his piece of cloth, and the alkali it contains has the same effect as soft soap. The fronds are sometimes used instead of straw as litter for the farmyard, and as thatch for stacks and cottages. In the Canary Islands the inhabitants, who are very poor, grind the root to powder, and mix it with a small quantity of barley meal, to boil for porridge. In the brake's fern, the portion of the stalk |