36 THE FLOWER GARDEN. 



too, constituting but a very small fraction of the 

 1508 species which Sadler enumerates in his general 

 catalogue. Mr. Newman, in his recent work,* has 

 figured more than eighty varieties, the natural 

 growth of our own isles alone, and mentions fourteen 

 distinct species found in one chasm at Ponterwyd ! 

 Though some of the tail-piece vignettes of his volume 

 fail in representing as how could it be otherwise ? 

 the natural abandon and elegance of this most 

 graceful of all plants, we would still recommend the 

 great variety and beauty of his larger illustrations as 

 much to the artist and manufacturer, and embellisher, 

 as to the fern-collector himself. 



Our notice of ferns might seem rather foreign to 

 the subject of ornamental gardening (though we shall 

 have something to say of a fernery by and bye), 

 were it not for the opportunity it affords us of intro- 

 ducing, probably for the first time to many of our 

 readers, a botanical experiment, which, though for 

 some years past partially successful, has but lately 

 been brought to very great perfection for the pur- 

 poses both of use and ornament. We allude to the 

 mode of conveying and growing plants in glass-cases 

 hermetically sealed from all communication with the 

 outer air. There are few ships that now arrive from 

 the East Indies without carrying on deck several 

 cases of this description, belonging to one or other of 

 our chief nurserymen, filled with orchideous plants 

 and other new and tender varieties from the East, 

 which formerly baffled the utmost care to land them 



* A History of British Ferns, by E. Newman. 



