THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 113 



Hinsdale bit3^s more than $10,000 worth each year. L.B. 

 Brague does an equally large business and there are sever- 

 . al more in and al30ut Hinsdale. 



It is estimated that more than 100,000,000 ferns are 

 gather each \^ear and put in cold storage at Springfield to 

 be sent broadcast over the countr}-. From all over the 

 country- come in the farmers with their great loads of 

 ferns, some of which bring as high a price as $2.50 a load. 

 For the past twenty years dealers in Hinsdale have been 

 in the fern business and they say there has not been the 

 slightest diminution in the supply. 



All the year up to the time of frost in the autumn, 

 farmers have their entire families out getting ferns ; ferns 

 of all descriptions from the delicate maiden-hair to the 

 austere brakes. The roots are always saved and in many 

 cases land that is of no value for other purposes brings in 

 a good revenue from the ferns. 



The bill provides that the jnckers must have a licence 

 to conduct their business and that a certificate must fol- 

 low each lot of ferns from the time they are gathered in 

 the woods of Berkshire until they reach the final purchaser 

 in some large city. 



This red tape would kill the business entirely, the deal- 

 ers say. It is said that Mr. Treadway has been prompted 

 in this measure bj^ summer residents of Stockbridge and 

 vicinity. It is said that Italians coming up to Stockbridge 

 have raised havoc with the beauty of woods in southern 

 Berkshire and hence his wish to save them. A man inter- 

 ested in fern gathering said to-day that at least one-fourth 

 of the people of Berkshire are directly interested in the feru: 

 business." 



When a man owning a piece of land chooses to market 

 the ferns upon it, or to allow others to do so, no one can 

 object for a man may do as he w^ill w^ith his own. If he 

 decided to cut down his woodland, plow up the ferns and 

 sow other crops upon the land, no one would criticise him. 

 But the gathering of ferns from the lands of another with- 

 out permission is quite another matter and the sooner the 



