70 



years ago, a class of people has sprung up who gain a liveli- 

 hood by collecting and selling fern roots to tourists ; these 

 are exposed for sale in the markets during the summer 

 season, and it is pitiable to see cartloads of them torn from 

 their native rocks and glens, and to think that not one root 

 in a hundred will grow when carried away and planted on 

 rockwork; and the few plants that do survive are but 

 miserable representatives of their respective species. There 

 are laws to protect the small birds from being exterminated, 

 but none can be framed to protect our ferns and wild flowers. 

 The only suggestions the writer could make to preserve 

 them was to appeal to tourists on no account to purchase 

 roots of ferns from these dealers, and not to dig up rare 

 specimens when they find them, but content themselves 

 with the fronds. He then enumerated the various native 

 species of ferns, and showed how few of them were suitable 

 for cultivation in ordinary gardens and rockeries, and that 

 for such a purpose the common species were really more 

 suited in every way than the rarer, being handsomer and 

 more easily grown. He also strongly advocated the growth 

 of varieties from spores, and spoke of the pleasure he had 

 experienced in examining the extensive collection of those 

 raised by E. J. Lowe, F.RS., &rc., of Highfields, near Not- 

 tingham. 



Mr. HuEST mentioned that the Madeira Dicksonia CaU 

 cita had been eradicated from its sole Spanish habitat, near 

 Algeziras, by collectors. 



