?. FERNS : BRITISH AND FOREIGN. 



their cultivation is so great that they are for the 

 most part confined to the gardens of the wealthy. 

 Ferns, on the contrary, may, as a general rule, 

 be grown in a comparatively inexpensive manner. 

 The discovery made by Mr. N. B. Ward, that these 

 plants can be grown to great perfection in small 

 ornamental closed cases (now well known as " Wardian 

 Cases "), suitable not only for the drawing-rooms of 

 the wealthy, but for humbler dwellings, renders it pos- 

 sible for amateurs to indulge their love of Ferns without 

 going to the expense of erecting hothouses and em- 

 ploying a staff of gardeners; and it is to be hoped 

 that this will be the means of retaining them in favour 

 and spreading them still wider. 



The enumeration in the following pages shows that 

 at the present time above nine hundred exotic species of 

 Ferns are cultivated in the various public and private 

 gardens in this country; and of these by far the 

 greater number have been introduced during the last 

 quarter of a century. A very large, indeed almost 

 a complete, collection of them may at present be 

 seen in the Eoyal Botanic Garden at Kew, where, 

 during forty years, I devoted attention to their 

 cultivation, and to the study of their generic and 

 specific distinctions, using every endeavour in my 

 power, assisted by the extensive influence of the 

 eminent Director, Sir W. J. Hooker, to introduce 

 new species, both by raising them from spores 

 taken from my herbarium, and through correspon- 

 dence with persons residing in our Colonies and the 

 Superintendents of Botanic and other gardens on the 

 Continent. Being well acquainted with the latter 

 branch of the subject, — the introduction of new 



