FERNS. 205 



put thorn in the ground for summer. Most of them grow best in 

 shady places, but Adiautum grows equall}" well in suu or shade. 

 If she had not given away a large number she would now have a 

 square rod of this beautiful fern. She thought the Ostrich feru 

 another desirable species, if one has plenty of room. 



E. H. Hitchings wondered that no more interest was taken in 

 the cultivation of ferns, especially our native species and varieties. 

 Many of them are perfectly hardy and will bear more hard treat- 

 ment than any other plants that he knew. Some time in the 

 winter of 1883, he received from Charles G. Pringle, of Vermont, 

 fl package of ferns, natives of the Pacific Slope, and among them 

 were I'elkea Breiveri, collected September 27, 1882. He was busy 

 iit the time and laid them aside in a drawer, to be mounted and 

 placed in his herbarium when convenient. The convenient time 

 <lid not arrive until about two years after the ferns were collected. 

 Then, after placing some of the fronds in his herbarium, he put 

 one of the roots in water for a week or two, and then planted it in 

 a pot, where it grew, and he now has several fronds from it in his 

 herbarium. Perhaps this may not seem remarkable, because those 

 ferns have to endure the long, dry season of the Pacific slope ; he 

 therefore gave another case, nearer home. On September 2, 1888, 

 he went with a friend to Lexington and took up a number of 

 plants of the Ostrich fern, intending to set them out in the woods 

 near home. They were left in a basket in the cellar until May 28, 

 1890, — nearly twenty months — when he found them still alive 

 and growing. He then set them out and they grew well during 

 the season. Besides the Osti'ich fern, he had planted the 

 Osmunda regalis and 0. cinnumomeci, Aspidium Thelypteris, A. 

 Nnveboracensf, A. spinulosuvi, Woodwardia angxibti folia and 

 others. They need but very little care if planted in a suitable 

 place, which should be in the shade, in rather rich soil, not wet, 

 except for a few species. He thought some of our native ferns 

 were improved when grown under glass. He said the late J. "W. 

 Merrill, of Cambridge, was very successful in cultivating manj- of 

 our rarer species. Some of them are also grown at the Botanic 

 Garden, Cambridge. David Allan, gardener to Robert M. Pratt, 

 Oakley Park, Watertown, has grown some very fine specimens — 

 handsomer than any the speaker had ever seen growing in their 

 own homes. John Robinson, of Salem, recently Professor of 

 Botany and Vegetable Physiology to this Society, has successfully 



