28 American Fern Journal 



the fact that the tree in question was one of a group 

 of seedling birches, several of which had shown also 

 external evidences of hybridity, were taken to indicate 

 a hybrid origin for this tree also. 



Equisetum littorale has been long suspected in Europe 

 ■and America to be a hybrid between E. arvense and 

 E. limosum on the basis of external and internal char- 

 acters. Similarly material of E. variegatum Jessupi, 

 collected on Toronto Island by E. C. Jeffrey, was found 

 to possess peculiar internal characters indicative of 

 hybridism between E. variegatum and E. hyemale. 



The writer of the article is gathering facts about 

 other so-called "varieties" of Equisetum, and would 

 undoubtedly be glad to receive material of this sort 

 from different parts of the country. Such material 

 may be sent care of Harvard University. 



R.C.B. 



$30,000 Paid Fern Pickers 



More than $30,000 has been paid out in the months 

 of September, October and the first part of November 

 to gatherers of wild ferns in the four Bennington county 

 towns of Woodford, Stamford, Searsburg and Reads- 

 boro. The pickers were paid by the piece, four cents a 

 hundred, and as there have been more than 6,000,000 

 ferns shipped out of the mountains this season, the sum 

 total is easily reached. 



The industry is comparatively new and was brought 

 about by the discovery of the florists that the addition 

 of a few ferns as a background for a box of blossom 

 added materially to the value of the purchase in the 

 eyes of a customer, especially in winter. Since it be- 

 came known that the ferns could be kept all winter in 

 cold storage the business of gathering and retailing has 

 increased rapidly until there are at present many firms 



