4. FERNS I BRITISH AND FOREIGN. 



sums of money were devoted to the payment of bota- 

 nical collectors, and great exertions were made, under 

 tiie patronage of Sir Joseph Banks, to stimulate the 

 introduction of new and rare plants, by inducing the 

 commanders of ships of war and East- Indiamen to 

 take an interest in the subject. By these means a 

 very large number of plants were actually introduced 

 into the country in a living state ; but the Department 

 under whose charge the garden then was, took no 

 steps to provide proper accommodation ; and this, 

 together with the very frequent change of foremen, 

 led, as a natural consequence, to the death of the 

 plants. 



Taking, then, the third " Hortus Kewensis," and 

 excluding our indigenous species, I find that the total 

 number of " Garden Ferns " introduced previously to 

 the year 1813 amounts to as many as eighty-three. The 

 merit of being the first introducer of these plants 

 belongs to Mr. John Tradescant* the younger, who in 

 early life made a voyage to Virginia ; and I find it 

 recorded in Parkinson's " Theatrurn Botanicum," 

 published in 1640, that upon his return from that 

 country in 1628 he brought with him, amongst other 

 rare plants, the Cystopteris bulbifera and Adiantum 

 peddtivm. These, therefore, must be regarded as the 

 nucleus of our present large collections. At first 

 the progress seems to have been exceedingly slow, for 

 between the time of Tradescant and the close of the 

 seventeenth century, only five additional species were 

 introduced ; viz., Asplenium rhizophyllum and Onoclea 



* John Tradescant had a Botanic Garden and Museum at 

 LamLeth. 



