DECEMBER MEETING. 221 



ous, amoui? \vlucli arc trailing, creeping, fairy, climbing, and Hartford Feru; 

 also, fern-ivy and star-vine. OMie pressed feru was first brought into market 

 ])y Miss Goodwin, a Hartford lady, who is still engaged in the work. As her 

 business has increased she has associated with her a charming circle of refined 

 young ladies, who, while engaged in preparing the greenery for so many winter 

 homes, are, at the same time, working out one of the problems of woman's 

 work, for work for women it emphatically is. Not only is tlie delicate touch of 

 quick, dainty fingers re(iuired to lay in tiie proper position the leaves, so pro- 

 vokingly inclined to curl, but woman's patience, also, must be called into 

 requisition, for the process is a slow one, especially in a warm, damp autumn, 

 and orders come faster than they can be filled. Some of the ferns oifcred in 

 the New York market have been pressed with a hot iron, which renders the 

 leaf very brittle, and the color soon fades. The difference between the latter 

 process and that of Miss Goodwin is soon learned." * * * 



A letter to a New York paper, in speaking of the various vines for trimming, 

 says: "A year ago smilax was all the rage ; men offered it for sale at all the 

 street corners, and ladies purchased it to trim their hair and dresses for parties. 

 It has, however, been susperseded by the Hartford Fern. This is now sold along 

 the streets, and the trade is quite lively. For a long time ladies, using the 

 fern, were comiielled to press it themselves, but it can now be purchased 

 already pressed. It grows exclusively in Hartford, and in woods in the neigh- 

 borhood. The people used to tear it up by the roots and sell the plants to out- 

 siders ; but it is very difficult to cultivate, and that trade has been discontinued. 

 The quantities that were taken would soon have destroyed it entirely, but a law 

 was passed by the Legislature a few years since, prohibiting people from picking 

 it, except at a certain season, and in prescribed quantities." 



I learn from Miss Goodwin that the increasing scarcity of the Fern sometimes 

 necessitates her sending long distances for it; some of her assistants having 

 been as far as seventy miles for it. It is quite safe to add also that most of 

 the packages offered for sale and used to fill orders are prepared by this lady 

 and her assistants. I have made several inquiries concerning the propagation 

 of this plant. In the Botanical Gardens at Washington I found a small vine 

 last fall, and in the greenhouse connected with our Agricultural College I think 

 there is still a specimen in growth. All botanists and gardeners who have 

 made the experiment agree upon the diflficuity of its propagation. 



The Country Gentleman for February 24, 18T6, gives numerous answers to 

 inquirers concerning the botanical name and nature of this Fern. From one 

 we learn that '' it derives its name of Hartford Fern from the fact that it was 

 first sold in the streets of that city, the principal portion being gathered and 

 sold by one family at East AVindsor Hill, some eight miles from the city. The 

 place of growth in this locality is swampy or wet woodland. It is found in sev- 

 eral localities in the State ; but is generally considered rare. The stalks spring 

 from slender running root stocks, are slender, flexible, and twining, growing 

 about three feet in height in best specimens ; branches alternate, short, with 

 two petioles of considerable length growing therefrom, each petiole bearing a 

 rounded, heart-shaped, palmately 4-7 lobed sterile frondlet, the fertile f rondlets 

 growing above on the same plant, forming a terminal panicle. Many unsuc- 

 cessful attempts have been made to transplant this fern, from this particular 

 locality ; but want of success resulted more from making the attempt at the 

 ■wrong season, than because it may not be successfully done ; in fact it has in 

 cue instance been successfully started in a new growth." Another correspondent 



