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Show EARLY FERNS OF SPRINGTIME. Interesting Development of the Cotton Into the Fiddle Head. Aa real names, cotton nnd fiddle heads havo not enough In common tp bring them together In ono title; but as fanciful names for the two earliest stages of the springtime ferns, tho two arq closely associated. Tho "col-ton" "col-ton" fVrn soon merges Into the ""fid-dlo ""fid-dlo head." Just us tho buds of trees nnd shrubs nro beginning to swell cottony tufts appear all over tho ground of tho low-landB low-landB In many places, and so closo Is tho resemblance that at first glance It seems ns If llttlo balls or wndB of cotton had there been scattered broad-past. broad-past. These balls conceal tho ends of the young fern fronds, tho botanist using tho term "clrclnate" to describe tho form of rolling or unrolling. As Boon as tho fern lms grown an Inch or two In height the cottony nppear-ance nppear-ance dtsaoneurs and the "flddlo head" form becomes very marked. St. Nicholas. |