Journal of the TLngli&li Agricultural Society. 169 



that Mr. Newman has taken in figuring and describing the va- 

 rieties of many of the species from his own observation ; for, not 

 content with seeing them in a natural state, the author has trans- 

 planted them to his own garden, and noted them in all their 

 changes. The author, having stated very clearly his method of 

 cultivating the different species, says : " I have pressed fronds 

 from the same root for three successive years, and have found 

 variations abundantly adequate to the establishment of species 

 quite as distinct as many of those in the English Flora ; and I 

 consider all that cultivation, as I have explained it, can accom- 

 plish for any plant is, to hasten or delay those changes to "which 

 that plant is by nature liable-, it cannot increase or diminish the 

 number of actual species." We fully concur in this remark; 

 and only add, that, had this been attended to before, there could 

 not have been so much confusion among the species of ferns as 

 there has hitherto been. The author also says (p. 3.) that, 

 " henceforward, in the veins of a new fern will be sought the 

 characters which shall decide its genus." This is one of the best 

 modes possible for determining genera, and we hope, with Mr. 

 Newman, that it will soon become general ; affording, as it does, 

 a method of making out the genus of a barren frond, which is 

 not always easily done ; and will, no doubt, throw much light on 

 fossil ferns, where the fructification is often so much injured as 

 frequently to be useless. The descriptions are very full, and 

 with as little technicality as possible, which renders it a valuable 

 present to the lady botanist. A good number of localities are 

 given for each species, which will give collectors an opportunity 

 of getting specimens from the different places mentioned, many 

 of them varying exceedingly in different localities, and thus de- 

 termining still further whether they ought to rank as species or 

 varieties. The illustrations are very accurate and original, being 

 all taken from nature, and drawn on the wood by the author. In 

 short, the illustrations are so clear, and the descriptions so cor- 

 rect, that no persons studying the vegetable productions of Bri- 

 tain should be without this book. The cultivator will find it 

 available for the numerous excellent remarks on the culture of 

 ferns, raising them from seeds, or growing them on Mr. Ward's 

 system ; and, as a fernery is a desideratum in all good gardens, 

 no gardener ought to be without it. — W. A. M. 



Art. V. The Journal of the English Agricultural Society. Part III. 

 Svoj plates and woodcuts. London, 1840. 



It is clear, from this publication, that the landed proprietors 

 of England are at last determined to make the most of their 

 1840. March. n 



