WHICH BOSTON FERN IS 



BEST? 



PROSPECTUS OF AN EXPERIMENT TO ANSWER THIS QUESTION 



R. C. Benedict 



Brooklyn Botanic Garden, Brooklyn, N. Y. 



TO STATE that the Boston fern in 

 its many varieties is the most im- 

 portant of cultivated ferns is a 

 truism. To judge the supreme excel- 

 lence of one variety is a matter less 

 readily determined. During the eight 

 \ears in which a scientific study of the 

 \-arieties of Boston fern has been car- 

 ried on at the Brooklyn Botanic Gar- 

 den, the commercial aspects of these 

 ferns have aroused interest. Practi- 

 calh' all the named and unnamed 

 varieties of Nephrolepis are under 

 cultivation there; it has therefore been 

 possible to form some general opinions 

 on the qualities of the different kinds. 



Within the last year experiments 

 have been undertaken with the aim 

 of determining accurately, by means of 

 test cultures, the relative characteris- 

 tics of the different commercial forms. 

 For the present, only the once divided 

 or once pinnate forms are under con- 

 sideration. A test of single plants of 

 about twenty-five different varieties 

 has already been made over a period 

 of six months. These plants were 

 placed in separate compartments of the 

 stock bench in rich soil with good drain- 

 age and light. But it is obvious that 

 such a test cannot possibly furnish the 

 basis for the accurate conclusions de- 

 sired. A second six-month's test is 

 under way but even this will not be 

 adequate for final determinations. The 

 limited space at the Botanic Garden 

 makes it impossible to grow a large 

 enough number either of stock plants 

 or of their progeny in pots. Because of 

 this condition the writer has asked the 

 cooperation of commercial growers, 

 experiment stations, and agricultural 

 colleges in effecting tests sufficiently 

 extensive for obtaining conclusive evi- 

 dence. To this end arrangements are 

 being made to send sets of small 



plants of the man>' varieties to those 

 who will undertake to make careful 

 tests under standardized conditions. 



Experimenters generally will be grati- 

 fied by the resultsof theirinvestigations. 

 The commercial grower in particular 

 will derive more than one benefit; 

 the varieties in the set will produce 

 salable plants; such a set of different 

 kinds will furnish excellent material 

 for exhibition at flower shows; the 

 knowledge gained will more than com- 

 pensate for the extra time required 

 to make the necessary observations. 

 Some growers may hold that they 

 already have a knowledge of the cul- 

 tural qualities of the different kinds of 

 ferns sufficient to their needs, but it is 

 plain that most growers apply their 

 knowledge to a relatively small number 

 of different varieties. More widely 

 disseminated knowledge of existing 

 varieties will avail commercial growers 

 as a group by checking the introduc- 

 tion, as new forms, of varieties already 

 in the trade. 



UPON WHAT BASES OF JUDGMENT IS 

 THE BEST FERN TO BE DETERMINED? 



In judging ferns for home usage and 

 the purposes of the retail florist, 

 appearance and lasting qualities are 

 probably the most important factors. 

 The commercial grower would also add 

 the cultural characteristics as a third 

 basis. A number of different bases of 

 judgment may be summarized as 

 follows : 



(1) Appearance; size; beauty and 

 grace of leaves ; color and cutting 

 of leaves; compactness and sym- 

 metry of whole plant. 



(2) "Hardness" or "softness," i.e., 

 the keeping qualities under the 

 conditions of the home and re- 

 tail florist shop. 



^SS 



