A USEFUL FERN FOR BASKET WORK 



Figure 5. This fern is not in the Boston fern series, but is a separate species, A^. pectinata. 

 It makes a particularly fine growth for basket work, producing a great profusion of slender, 

 gracefully drooping fronds. 



(3) Productivity in runners. 



(4) Response after transplanting, 

 that is, slow or quick growth. 



(5) Continuity of growth through- 

 out the entire year. 



(6) Ease of care, i.e., with overhead 

 watering and so forth. 



(7) Special characteristics for special 

 uses, as for basket work. 



It may be noted, as suggested above, 

 that there are several dififerent points 

 of view in judging these plants. The 

 mail order florist will have preferences 

 dififerent from those of the jobber; the 

 city retail florists' demands will not be 

 the same as those of the small retail 

 grower with neighborhood customers. 

 The fern specialist will be interested in 

 other characters than the general 

 grower who will want a variety to 

 serve as a rotation crop in connection 

 with various kinds of flowering plants. 



CHARACTERISTICS OF INDIVIDUAL 

 VARIETIES 



The prize for the most beautiful 

 leaves among Nephrolepis varieties 



would probably go to N. "superba" 

 {N. hirsutula superba?), an English 

 form in which the leaves are rufifled 

 and lobed in exquisite fashion, each 

 having the effect of a graceful plume. 

 (See Fig. 3.) Unfortunately this form 

 and all the several other varieties of 

 N. hirsutula, an East Indian species, 

 are culturable only under the best 

 greenhouse conditions, so that this 

 form is not valuable at all for ordinary 

 American commercial growers. 



Another Nephrolepis form not in the 

 Boston fern series, but a separate 

 species, N. pectinata, which produces a 

 great quantity of slender, graceful, 

 drooping leaves, makes a particularly 

 fine growth for basket work. (Fig. 5.) 

 Although almost unknown in the 

 American trade, it has possibilities of 

 some value for this special work. 



There is no question that the varie- 

 ties derived from A^. exaltata, the wild 

 parent form of the Boston fern, are 

 the best for all-around use, particularly 

 for home growth. It is unfortunate 

 that definite knowledge of the origin 



