(50 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



find a congenial soil. The Adianhim pedahon, for instance, is 

 rare here, but in the Adirondacks he had seen patches of from fifty 

 to a hundred acres in the maple woods. 



Mr. Hubbard had found many ferns which are rare here, such 

 as Phegopteris Dryopteris, Cystop)teris bulbifera, Aspidium acule- 

 atum var. Braunii, StrutMopteris Germanica, Adiantum pedaticm, 

 and the Botrychmms, especially B. Virgmicum, plentiful in Vermont. 

 Mr. Davenport's plan of planting was very beautiful in theory, 

 but, as soon as known, these gardens would be despoiled. 



James Cruickshanks had seen a mountain in Vermont where 

 you might get wagon loads of Adiantum pedatum, with stems 

 eighteen inches high, and heads the same distance across. Eefer- 

 ringto Dr. Hooker's collection of ferns, which had been mentioned 

 by Mr. Robinson, he said that Dr. Hooker was educated to love 

 them early in life, his father having been devoted to this class of 

 plants. 



Mr. Strong said that a very large patch of Adiantum pedatum 

 did exist in Waltham, but had been nearly exterminated. 



Mr. Bu swell wished to ask Mr. Moore whether he found 

 all ferns as difficult to exterminate as the brakes. He advised 

 Mr. Moore to turn pigs into the fields overgrown with brakes, 

 as they were very fond of the young fronds, which contain a 

 great deal of mucilage. He had known fields cleared of them in 

 this way. 



Mr. Moore replied that he was fond of ferns and cultivated them 

 in his greenhouse, but, as to some of the native ferns, a pig might 

 as well undertake to run his nose into Bunker Hill monument as 

 to dig up such tough roots and eat them. Though he had not 

 tried to exterminate ferns by turning in pigs himself, his neighbors 

 had. He knew the locality of the climbing fern in Concord, and 

 you can still gather them by the bushel. Some of those who gather 

 the roots will succeed in growing it. Mr. Moore himself has it 

 growing. 



Mr. vStrong thought it might be worthy of consideration wheth- 

 er it is best to have a law here for the protection of climbing 

 fern, though he believed that when the growth is of value to the 

 owners of land they would find the present laws sufladent for pro- 

 tection if enforced. 



Mr. Moore had understood that the law in Connecticut was for 

 the preservation of the crop, which was valuable to the owners of 



