HISTORY OF INTRODUCTION OF EXOTIC FERNS. 
3 
species, — I have thought that a few pages devoted to 
the history of these plants in its connection with our 
gardens might prove acceptable. My own personal 
knowledge dates from about the year 1822 ; and for 
information respecting those in cultivation previous 
to that time, I have taken for my guide the most im- 
portant and most reliable of the garden catalogues. 
The first work upon which dependence can be placed 
for the early-introduced species is the so-called second 
edition of the “ Hortus Kewensis,” published by the 
younger Aiton, in 1813; I say the so-called, for there 
were in reality two previous editions — one by Dr. John 
Hill, in 1768, and a second by William Aiton, in 
1789. In the first of these only ten exotic species 
are recorded as being in the garden at Kew, which 
then belonged to the Princess of Wales, but the 
dates of their introduction are not given ; and in 
the second, that of the elder Aiton, thirty-four, all 
of which have the name of their supposed introducer 
attached to them, and the date at which they were 
introduced. I here give preference to the last edition, 
as I know, from personal intercourse with the com- 
pilers, that great care was exercised in its prepara- 
tion, particularly with regard to the rectification of 
dates, and I shall take it as the basis of my remarks. 
But, in the first place, it is necessary to say a few 
words in defence of that work. It has been 
asserted that a considerable number of the plants 
enumerated in the “ Hortus Kewensis ” never existed 
in a living state, either in the garden at Kew or 
elsewhere in this country. This statement, however, 
is merely supposition, and rests upon questionable 
authority. In the early days of Kew Gardens, large 
b 2 
