144 
not be more than thirty, but it is yet impossible certainly to deter- 
mine the proper names for these varieties or the exact. number of 
different kinds. The difficulty in correctly classifying these 
forms is due, in part, to carelessness and inaccuracy on the part 
of the growers and others, and in part to the fact that the classi- 
fication of the original species of Nephrolepis is an unusually 
difficult problem. 
Besides the named varieties a REC eING number of unnamed 
kinds have been sent in for experimental growing, to the number 
of at least fifty. When full-grown plants of all kinds are devel- 
oped it will undoubtedly be found that some of these unnamed 
forms are duplicates of varieties already in the trade. It is safe 
to say, however, that the present living collection at the Garden 
includes at least one hundred and twenty-five distinct varieties of 
Nephrolepis. 
About thirty of this increase of sixty-odd kinds have been ob- 
tained by purchase from English and French growers. The re- 
mainder have been received through the cooperation of American 
growers and botanic gardens. The Bureau of Plant Industry, 
through its Office of Foreign Plant Introduction, is now cooper- 
ating through its agents in all parts of the tropics, who are col- 
lecting specimens of the wild forms to be grown and compared 
with the types under cultivation. 
The writer has continued his visits to commercial establish- 
ments through the aid of a grant of one hundred dollars from the 
American Association for the Advancement of Science. Grow- 
ers in Columbus and Springfield, Ohio, and in and about Boston, 
New York, and Philadelphia have been visited, some of them sev- 
eral times. A great deal of valuable information has been gained 
in this way. A partial scientific report of the study of these 
plants has been published in the May number of the Bulletin of 
the Torrey Botanical Club, and reprinted as Contributions Num- 
ber 13 of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. Further reports are in 
preparation. 
In the meantime the facilities of the collection continue to be 
available for the benefit of florists. Small plants of named varie- 
ties will be sent on application as far as the stock of duplicates 
allows. Definite applications for few and specific varieties will 
