10

A Trip to the Ozarks
#10

the fronds are arra nged are of a purplish brown color and shiny
and lustrous like polished ebony. The term " spellenwort is applied
indiscriminately to all the species of Asplenium, because formerly
some of them were regarded as efficacious in the case of a morbid
condition of both mind and body.

Some ferns prefer the deep, rich woods, some the banks of streams,
some boggy or marshy ground, some even adorn with their graceful
fronds the face of what would otherwise be a barren rock, while
others seem to thrive best in open, sunny rocky grounds. In such
a place as this it was that I found the " Christmas Fern" (Polystichum (?)
acrostichoides). Growing among brush and logs, it was yet
quite conspicuous on account of its evergreen fronds. The Brake,
or Braker(Pteridium(?) latiusculum), like the Christmas Fern, seems
to do best in open sunny places - the hotter the sun, the better it
seems to thrive. Strange to say, this fern was not very common in
the Ozarks. And yet it is the most common fern in the world for it
is found in nearly every part of North America, except the extreme
North, and in nearly every part of the Old World.

The broad Beech Fern(Phegopteris hexanoptera) called the Beech Fern
because it grows most abundantly underneath certain Beech trees -
the most polished and park-like of all the forest trees. It is a
graceful fern and one of the few ferns whose fronds are fragrant.
This, too, was rare in the Mountains.

On the shelf-like ledges of sand-stone rocks, wherever it could find
sufficient soil to gain a root hold and maintain its existence there
grew an abundance of the little Blunt-leaved Woodsia(W. obtusa).
This fern is quite common in Texas, and tho.small it is graceful, and o
so makes up in gracefulness that which it lacks in size, sturdiness
and robustness.

From Winslow, a number of interesting excursions could be made, not
only into the Mountains, where the roads were excellent, but also
into the outlying mountain country. One such an excursion took us
a distance of 70 miles thru the Ozarks to a place called Bella Vista.
On the way we passed thru the cities of Fayetteville and Bentonville and
several small towns. But whether cities or towns they all alike
showed the benefit of a ell-managed agricultural region and one of the
best fruit-growing sections in the state of Arkansas.

It goes without saying that Fayetteville is a model city; the swat
of the U.of Ark., that University like all educational institutions,
has attracted within its sphere and scope of its beneficent, cul-
tural and humanizing influences, many people who are not wealthy,
but cultured and refined. And this wealth, culture and refinement
was plainlyto be seen, not only in the business part of the city
but much more so, of course, in the residential part of Fayetteville.

At Bella Vista we were kindly and pleasantly welcomed by Dean Carl Venth
and Mrs. Venth of the Fine Arts Department of Texas Woman's College,
Fort Worth, who maintained a summer home at the Arkansas resort. Their
residence is built upon the steep side of the Mountain and from the upper
porch of the house one has a fine view , not only of the Mountai nsbut also
of a wide sweep of mountain country. It is /a" Bella Vista " indeed.