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The exhibitions of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society 

 which have been referred to, have long been one of the most im- 

 portant agencies for the dissemination of a knowledge of our 

 native plants, and in recent years the splendid exhibits of Mrs. 

 P. D. Richards, the Misses Moran, Noyes, Grinnell, and others 

 have been instrumental in making scores of visitors familiar 

 with the appearance of the ferns. 



Previous to the publication of John Williamson's "Ferns of 

 Kentucky," in 1878, no distinctively American Hand Book on the 

 ferns existed, and when we compare the condition of American 

 fern literature at that time with that of the present, we see at 

 once how meagre and almost inaccessible it was for general use, 

 but we also see that it was then the very beginning of a period 

 which was destined to develop a remarkable interest in fern life 

 and lead to the production of popular and scientific fern books 

 that have become the nucleus for a splendid American fern 

 literature. The delightful chapters on ferns in Mrs. Dana's and 

 Mrs. Wright's charming books, and the beautiful book of Mr. 

 Clute's, which is devoted wholly to ferns, have placed within 

 the reach of fern students of the present time matter which we of 

 the earlier days were obliged to look for in Hooker, Moore, Lowe, 

 Cooke, Anne Pratt, Johnson .and other English fern books, 

 while the splendid work of Farlow, Campbell, Atkinson and 

 Bessey has given to us the more technical and scientific know- 

 ledge which characterizes the superb works of Hoffmeister, 

 Sachs, DeBary, Goebel, Luerssen and others. 



At the time, however, of beginning my own study, and until 

 well on into the seventies, the only practical American fern 

 literature coming within our limits, available for a beginner's use 

 was in Bigelow's "Flora Bostoniensis." Gray's and Wood's 

 Botanies and Chapman's "Flora." Beside these I had an old 

 copy of Mrs. Lincoln's "Botanical Lectures," which I found oc- 

 casionally very helpful. But such other matter as may have ex- 

 isted in the form of short notes and newspaper or magazine 

 articles were scattered through many publications in such a man- 

 ner as to be practically inaccessible, and therefore of no use to a 

 novice. Tf. however, all such matter could possibly be collected 

 and properly arranged it would become an exceedingly useful and 



