PREFACE. 



obliged to seek his knowledge in many books and 

 periodicals, some of which are rare, others out of print, 

 and the majority of foreign origin. A volume which 

 would bring these scattered facts together in convenient 

 form has been greatly needed. 



In comparison with other countries, our fern literature 

 is very limited. The history of American fern books 

 begins in 1878 with the publication of John William- 

 son's modest little volume on the " Ferns of Kentucky." 

 This went through three editions and has long been out 

 of print. It is remarkable that the few years imme- 

 diately following the appearance of this book should 

 form our most prolific period as regards fern literature. 

 In 1879 J onn Robinson issued his "Ferns in their 

 Homes and Ours," a manual for the cultivator; in 1880 

 the first edition of Prof. Underwood's text book " Our 

 Native Ferns " appeared and during the same period 

 the two magnificently illustrated but expensive volumes 

 of Prof. D. C. Eaton's " North American Ferns " were 

 published. All of these have remained alone in their 

 special fields. For nearly twenty years, no fern book 

 that could compare with them in importance made its 

 appearance. Several minor works, however, treating of 

 the fern-flora of limited areas were published, chief 

 among which may be mentioned Dodge's " Ferns and 

 Fern Allies of New England," Lawson's " Fern-flora of 

 Canada" and Jones' " Ferns of the West." Still more 

 recently have appeared Mrs. Parsons' excellent " How to 

 Know the Ferns" and Miss Price's " Fern Collector's 

 Handbook." This completes the list of books, but a list 

 of American fern publications would scarcely be com- 

 plete without some mention of the Fern Bulletin which 

 enjoys the unique distinction of being the only journal 



