AMERICAN FERN SOCIETY 23 
is ever carried out and the herbarium continues to grow, 
it will mean that the time will come when arrangements 
will have to be made with some large institution willing 
to provide fireproof room and cases and where herbarium 
and library can be kept together and cared for. This 
may seem far in the future, but it is something the 
Society should have in mind. The report of the secre- 
tary shows that the Society is in possession of better 
files of its own publications than ever before and that 
the affairs of his office are in the best of condition. The 
Society is much indebted to Mr. Bigelow and those 
who have assisted him in securing the material for, 
determining and sending out to applicant members the 
sets of hybrid ferns. They should be of much assistance 
in the study of these often perplexing forms. I feel 
that the members should make a larger use than they 
apparently do of the facilities the Society affords for 
the exchange or gift of specimens. The membership 
of the Society is slowly and steadily increasing. The 
loss of some members each year is inevitable. New 
members must be secured to more than fill the places 
of those lost if our number is to increase. Membership 
in the Society appeals only to those who have an interest 
in our specialty; for this reason new members must 
come almost entirely through the help of those now 
in the Society and the increase we have is good evidence 
that we are getting such help. May we not have the 
same help the coming year only more of it? A little 
work from each one will show large results when brought 
together on the books of the treasurer. 
After three years service as your president it is my 
good fortune to be able to retire leaving the editorship 
of the JourNAL and the offices of Secretary and Treasurer 
in the hands of the men who have ably cared for them 
in the past and who are working in harmony for the 
good of the Society. The members may thus expect 
