Vll 



was 60 feet. It was in No. 2 that, as stated above, John 

 Smith first arranged the nucleus of the collection of 

 Tropical Ferns. 



In 18-43, No. 2 was doubled and made into a span 

 house. 



In 1845, No. 3 was entirely taken down, and a new 

 span-roofed house erected in its place. It joined on to 

 No. 2, which was kept at a somewhat lower temperature, 

 but opened into it through a partition. The centre was 

 filled up with slate shelf staging, and the sides with stone 

 shelves. No. 2 was used as a stove for rare palms and 

 large tropical ferns. No. 3 was at first occupied by the 

 Woburn collection of orchids presented by Her Majesty 

 the Queen ; for this purpose it proved eventually un- 

 suited. The orchids were gradually replaced by Aroidece 

 and ferns. Ultimately the latter obtained possession of 

 the whole house. According to John Smith (Records, p. 

 334), " the centre of the house was a raised sloping 

 rockery, amongst which the plants were growing in a 

 natural state, forming fine bushy specimens." 



A small house for tree ferns was built in 1861 ; this 

 was connected with the principal house in 1868, and now 

 forms the transept. 



In 1879 the Tropical Fern House, which from the 

 decay of the timbers had lapsed into an almost ruinous 

 condition, was further severely damaged by the hail 

 storm of August 3rd; 1,152 panes of glass in it were 

 broken. It was subsequently put into a thorough state 

 of repair, but the collections received considerable 

 damage. 



