GATHERING THE SPINULOSE SHIELD FERN 



1227 



The land upon which I was privileged to pick as the 

 guest of the owner was posted, but I saw many poachers. 

 Conditions could hardly be otherwise. The country is 

 very sparsely settled and unpatrolled, so that the cost to 

 owners of enforcing the prohi- 

 bition against fern picking is out 

 of proportion to the privilege 

 they grant. The notices, how- 

 ever, have a moral effect, for 

 each time I noticed poachers 

 they hurriedly scurried away. 



Picking is not work — at least 

 for those who do not do it for a 

 livelihood. Mornings are long 

 for early risers, at many sum- 

 mer resorts, and would have been 

 at my Vermont hamlet had it not 

 been for the ferns. Each morn- 

 ing after breakfast we started 

 out for ferns. Our host very 

 kindly loaned us hampers, into 

 the largest of which, by careful 

 arrangement, almost three thou- 

 sand ferns could be packed. By 

 noontime our hampers would be 

 filled and our stomachs empty; 

 for walking and climbing over 

 the uneven ground of the woods, 

 bending to pick the ferns and 

 toting the hampers about made 

 ravenous appetites. 



The woods in the year where- 

 of I write were the cleanest I 



have ever known them. They were absolutely free of bugs and 

 insects, of creeping and flying things of any nature whatever. Pick- 

 ing under these circumstances was ideal, and was thoroughly en- 

 joyed by all. Competition to be the first to fill a basket lent zest to 

 the picking. Surprisingly little was said by the pickers, once they 

 got started. Everyone took an absorbing interest in the work. 



and labored as if 

 their very subsist- 

 ence depended on 

 getting the hamp- 

 ers filled. A squir- 

 rel looking on could 

 not have but re- 

 marked that we 

 were as provident 

 as he in supplying 

 the winter's larder. 

 To one picking 

 for the first time a 

 little difficulty will 

 be e x p erienced 

 during the first 

 half hour or so of 

 surely distinguish- 

 ing the spinulose 

 shield fern from the 

 BUSY BUNDLING THE FERNS brakes that grow 



THE COVETED SPINULOSE SHIELD FERN 



all about it, often seemingly from the same root. This 

 difficulty, however, is short lived. After a day's picking 

 the question never arises in one's mind; while after a 

 couple of days' picking, one can separate the fern from the 

 brake with the fingers, the sense 

 of touch serving to distinguish 

 the stalk of one from that of the 

 other. And it is this sense of 

 touch that distinguishes the ex- 

 pert picker from the beginner. 

 A beginner chooses the ferns he 

 picks solely by eye, and picks 

 them one at a time. The ex- 

 pert gauges the size and quality 

 of the ferns almost by the feel- 

 ing of their stalks ; and instead 

 of gathering them one at a time 

 his busy fingers take, in one op- 

 eration, all those of the cluster 

 that are of proper size. The 

 ferns are not pulled up by the 

 roots, but are broken off a few 

 inches below the lowest frond. 



It is hard to say which is the 

 more interesting — picking the 

 ferns or bunching them. Per- 

 sonally I prefer the picking, be- 

 cause of the exercise it affords. 

 But as to which is the more 

 fascinating I must admit that 

 the palm goes to the bunching. 

 A few men picking by them- 

 selves do their own bunching, 

 tying the bunches with thread from a spool 

 carried in the pocket and run through a but- 

 tonhole. Most of the bunching, however, is 

 done at night. A picker who does not do his 

 own bunching, pays half what the ferns sell 

 for to have them bunched. 



I have seen a room full of people alive with 

 laughter and jovialty before bunching began, 

 gradually subside into a seeming contented 

 watching of the silent bunchers ; then as gradu- 

 ally to take a livelier interest in the work, and 

 finally to actively participate. Once the whole 



AFTER A GOOD MORNING'S WORK 



