Amprircan Bern Journal 
Vol. 11 OCTOBER-DECEMBER 1921 No, 4. 
The Boston Fern Show 
R. C. BENEDICT. 
The Boston fern show deserves to be reported first 
from the standpoint of the fern lover, as are all members 
of the American Fern Society. It should be reported 
also as indicative of the present status of tropical ferns 
as cultivated plants in the United States. Finally there 
should be reported as accurately as possible a list of 
the different kinds of ferns which were shown at Boston 
since the exhibition probably included most of the 
species and varieties at present cultivated in this country. 
The desire of every fern lover is to find for himself 
some new or hitherto unfamiliar kind of fern, or to find 
some old friend in an unexpected place. He delights 
also in discovering some glen, woods, cliffside, or ravine 
in which masses of ferns luxuriate, in which perhaps a 
considerable number of different kinds occur together. 
Mr. E. J. Winslow claims for the Willoughby Lake 
region, Vermont, precedence in the number of fern 
species native in a limited area, at least in the more 
northern states. The central New Yorker notes the 
claim, but thinks with complacency of his limestone 
slopes and cliffs, his glacial period ‘‘fossil”” water falls, 
with their wealth of ferns, especially their prized hart’s 
tongue. Dr. John K. Small rhapsodizes of Florida,— the 
“Land of Ferns” he calls it,-and writes book after book 
_to make its fern wealth better known. 
[Vol. 11, No 3 of the Jovrnat, pages 65-96, was issued Feb. 3, 1922] 
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