•^ NOTE and COMMENT [^» 



VAI.UABI.E Ferns. — Nowadays it is customary for the 

 florist to include with every order of cut flowers one or more 

 fern leaves and we accept this added greenery without a thought 

 as to its source. Doubtless a good many people suppose that 

 the florist grows it as he does the rest of his stock, hut the 

 truth is the leaves are collected from living plants growing 

 wild in our nothern forests. Since the demand for fern leaves 

 is constantly growing, it is evident that certain species of ferns 

 will become rare unless the greatest care is taken to collect 

 the leaves without harming the [)lants. Ferns are not a pro- 

 duct of the soil itself and can no more thrive without their 

 leaves than could an animal deprived of its digestive organs. 

 If the leaves are collected late in the year and care is taken 

 to leave the root-stock uninjured, it is likely that little harm 

 will result, but if collectors are allowed t(j uproot the plants 

 and tear off the leaves there will soon he no ferns to collect. 

 Some idea of the proportions to which the trade in fern leaves 

 has grown may be had from an item in 1 1 orticultiirc which 

 mentions that a single company has recently constructed in 

 North Adams, Mass., a storage house for ferns costing 

 $40,000 and capable of storing forty-two million fern fronds. 

 The ferns commonly used are forms of the spinulose shield 

 fern {Ncphr odium spinnlosinu), though others are used to 

 some extent, notably those of the Christmas fern {Polystichum 

 acrosHchoidcs) which are known to the trade as dagger ferns. 



