•^ NOTE and COMMENT fej* 



Twenty-eight Miluox Fern Leaves. — Nearly thirty 

 million fern leaves sounds like a large number, but this is 

 the number which Horticulture reports to have been shipped 

 from Bennington, X'ermont, in a single vear. To secure these 

 leaves, nearly a hundred thousand dollars were paid out in 

 wages. Such facts as these give some indication of the pro- 

 portions to which the business of collecting fern leaves, prin- 

 cipally leaves of the spinulose w'ood fern, for the florist has 

 grown. Whenever the florist receives an order for out flow- 

 ers, it is his custom to add a bit of greenery in the shape of fern 

 leaves. Many people suppose that the ferns are grown for 

 the purpose as the flowers are, but this incorrect. All are ob- 

 tained from wild plants. It is still a question whether pulling 

 off the leaves of ferns in midsummer or later will ultimately 

 destroy the plant, but the species in greatest demand is dis- 

 tributed over such an extensive area that it will be many years 

 before the wild supply is exhausted. At present, in \^ermont, 

 an insect, by eating the tender tips of the fronds has joined 

 man in destroying the plants. 



Japan Quince. — Supplementing what has been said re- 

 cently in these pages regarding the fruiting of the Japan or 

 flowering quince (Cydonia Jaj^onica ), it may be noted that this 

 year, in various parts of northern Illinois, this shrub has fruit- 

 ed more abundantly than has ever been recorded before. In 

 many cases the bushes are bending down with their weight of 

 fruit. What has caused this sudden fruiting is not evident 

 unless the flowering- period has happened to coincide with a 



