9 
by the late John Cooper Forster, which was presented to 
the Royal Gardens in 1888 by his widow. 
The collection is now contained in the new Filmy 
Fern House (No. II. A.) erected on the north side of 
No. 11. It is 50 feet long by 14 feet wide, with a 
central path ?nd two cases running the full length of 
the house. 
The Hardy Ferns occupy the rockery originally 
devoted to Alpine plants (before the construction of the 
Rock Garden in 1882), and it extends over part of the 
adjacent ground. A collection was established here in 
1874, and the rockery itself was reconstructed in 
1888. 
The collection as a whole is now probably the richest 
in existence in garden forms of British species. This 
is due to the munificent bequest by W. C. Carbonell, 
Esq., of the extensive collection formed by him at 
Rhiew Castel, Usk, Monmouthshire. The whole was 
removed to Kew in 1887. It consisted of 4,261 speci- 
mens, many probably unique, besides some hundreds 
of seedlings. 
The total number of well-marked species of ferns and 
the vascular Cryptogamia (Fern Allies) now mounts up 
to 3,500. Not more than one-third of these have been 
brought into cultivation, and Kew is always glad to 
receive any additions, if possible in the form of well- 
established plants ; if not, in the shape of dry spores, 
which can be collected and sent very easily by post in 
small packets. 
The following table, which shows the per-centage of 
ihe total number of ferns found in different parts of the 
