THE 



BOOK OF CHOICE FERNS. 



CHAPTER I, 



INTRODUCTION. 



HE sole object of the Author, as also of the Publisher, in 

 bringing out this new book on Ferns, is to render these 

 most interesting plants attractive, by presenting to the public 

 their classification in as simple a form as possible, and by 

 giving detailed instructions which will ensure their successful 

 cultivation. The necessity of producing such a work as the present one 

 has forced itself upon the attention of its Author, not only from the 

 love which he personally entertains for Ferns, but also from the tendency 

 to partial neglect which he — as well as all those concerned in the preser- 

 vation of beautiful and useful plants — has lately noticed with a deep sense 

 of regret. For it is incontestable that fashion, which is as tyrannical in 

 the court of flowers as in any other, has of recent years brought about 

 great changes in the cultivation of certain classes of plants ; and Ferns 

 have not escaped the effects of the submission to the general sentiment 

 and usage, to the current of which they have had to yield to such a degree 

 as to seriously endanger the preservation of even collections which have been 

 formed at no ordinary amount of expense and devotion. That of our great 



B 



