NOTE TO THE AUTHOR’S EDITION. 
It was “ The Fern Paradise ” which obtained 
for the writer, thirty years ago, the much-prized 
reputation of being “the Prophet of Fern 
Culture,” and if the earnest public object which 
underlies all his writings on sylvan themes 
secures support from the widely-extended host 
of readers whom this inexpensive edition is 
intended to reach, it will be followed by other 
volumes in the same series. 
(' Copy of a Letter received in 1887.) 
Dayton, Ohio, 
United States. 
February 14th, 1887. 
To Francis George Heath, Esq., 
Underwood, 
Kew Gardens, 
Surrey. 
Dear Sir, 
I have frequently, during the last 10 or 
1 2 years, been tempted to write to you, especially 
so after the perusal of some one of your beautiful 
works, describing Nature in her exquisite and 
loveable beauty. Your “Fern Paradise has 
been particularly interesting to me, as also “ Our 
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