X 
INTRODUCTION. 
tance ? I entertain a different opinion. I think that mere 
cutting of frond is of no more value than colour in fowls 
or cows, and therefore should not be used as the leading 
character of a species : to distinguish these, I would look 
for less fickle characters in the figure, position, and cover- 
ing of the masses of seed, in the habit of the rhizoma, 
and in the general outline of the frond. 
During the summers of 1837-8-9, having many oppor- 
tunities of obtaining roots of Ferns, I planted them with 
care, for the purpose of obtaining a more correct knowledge 
of the variations to which they were subject ; and as I 
have heard a great deal of the difficulty in cultivating 
Ferns, and have met with none myself, I will here describe 
the management which I have found successful. 
Whenever I met with a Fern which I thought would 
be worth the trouble of removing, I invariably noticed the 
situation in which it grew — whether it was naturally ex- 
posed to sun, rain and wind ; whether it grew on a hori- 
zontal or perpendicular surface ; and whether its fronds were 
erect, horizontal, or pendulous ; whether its roots enjoyed 
depth of earth, or were simply 
“ Moored in the rifted rock.’ 
And having thus minutely observed every natural peculi- 
arity, my next object, when the Ferns had reached home, 
was, to copy Nature as closely as I could ; not, indeed, to 
imitate rocks and mountains by a structure of flints. Bath- 
bricks, or clinkers, but simply by supplying to each, as far 
