April  24,  1902. 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
355 
The  Finest  Collection  of 
DAFFODILS 
IN  THE  WORLD, 
NOW  IN  BLOOM 
AT 
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A  Few  Minutes  from  Surbiton  Station  ( SAV.Ry.). 
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for  delivery  in  Autumn. 
BARR’S  DAFFODIL  CATALOGUE,  illustrated  with 
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COVENT  GARDEN,  LONDON. 
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B.]IS.  WILLIAMS  &  SON, 
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FORBES’  Illustrated  Catalogue 
Fox*  1902 
Has  amongst  experts  ’the  conspicuous  distinction  of  being 
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It  is  free  on  application  and  should  be  in  the  hands  of  all 
who  wish  to  excel  in  gardening, 
JOHN  FORBES,  Nurseryman,  HAWICK,  SCOTLAND 
ROBERT  GREEN 
(Limited), 
Nurserymen  and  Florists. 
Nurseries:  HOUNSLOW. 
Offices:  28  &  29,  CRAWFORD  STREET,  W. 
DRACiENAS,  CROTONS, 
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THURSDAY,  APRIL  24,  1902. 
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Primulas,  Orange  Trees,  &c.  Trade,  send  for  Wholesale 
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“  '  Ornamental  Trees,  91  Acres, 
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Herbaceous  Plant!. 
Four  Acres  of  Class, 
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slight Iv  tncj  eased  f>nces. 
CLNERAL  CATAICCUE 
^NeHflyV'O  r  atfpH  n'  yurs'-rv 
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Crco  on  receliit  of .  for  poetage. 
Please  meutioD  this  Paper. 
RltlHA^SMITH  &C?.  WORCESTER  J 
The  First  Plants. 
§^^^^NASMUCH  as  the  vegetable 
bodies  which  can  resist  the 
long  continued  action  of  water 
are  but  few,  it  seems  probable 
that  fossil  plants  hitherto  dis¬ 
covered,  only  partially  represent 
the  creations  antecedent  to  the 
present  existing  one.  Ideas  obtained 
from  them,  therefore,  must  necessarily 
be  superficial  and  speculative.  They  furnish 
however,  an  ample  amount  of  evidence  which 
satisfactorily  demonstrates  that  the  first 
plants  did  not  originate  from  seeds,  but  from 
spores.  They  were  undoubtedly  vascular 
cryptogams,  and  formed  for  many  ages  a 
leading  feature  in  the  vegetation  which 
formerly  covered  the  earth’s  surface.  They 
consisted  of  gigantic  trees  with  the  most 
simple  foliage,  and  having  cylindrical  stems 
without  leaves,  the  tall  columnar  form  of  the 
Calamite,  the  Lepidodendron,  wdiich  seemingly 
was  but  a  gigantic  Lycopodium  or  Club  Moss, 
and  Tree  Ferns,  with  an  undergrowth  of 
herbaceous  plants,  having  neither  flowers  nor 
fruit,  but  carrying  in  their  place  simple 
sporangium. 
The  testimony  of  the  oldest  sedimentary 
rocks  is  to  the  effect  that  the  first  plants  were 
the  produce  of  the  swamps,  seaweed  or  algse 
being  in  reality  the  first  vegetable  inhabitants 
of  the  globe.  They  would  naturally  be  the 
first  to  form  in  the  shallowing  depths  before 
the  elements  land  and  water  separated  from 
each  other,  thus  there  was  for  ages  a  swampy 
vegetation.  Ever  since  land  has  existed  there 
have  been  plants  of  tree-like  proportions  and 
bulk.  It  is  unnecessary  that  there  should 
have  been  a  rich  and  varied  flora  to  produce 
this  result.  In  fact,  did  none  other  plants 
exist  now  save  those  belonging  to  the  natural 
order  Kosacese  alone,  we  should  still  have 
herbs,  shrubs,  and  trees  covering  the  land- 
READERS  are  requested  to  send  notices  of  Gardening 
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London,  E.C.,  and  to  no  otner  person  and  to  no  other 
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