76 
Besides these limited uses, ferns, and pe sae as well, are also 
sed largely for decorative purposes. Every autumn bands of 
Paul establish camps in the mountainous regions along the 
usatonic and else ates and gather huge baskets full of the *. 
Christmas fern, Polystichum 
lose fern, Dryopteris intermedia, together with shoots of laurel, 
These are packed in bales and are later shipped to New York and 
other cities to be used with cut flowers. . Living specimens of 
these species may be seen in the fern-bed at the south side of the 
herbaceous grounds. 
This brings us to the collections of cultivated ferns, among 
which are numerous species of horticultural value. It is as living 
plants, undoubtedly, that ferns find ae largest commercial use. 
The cultivated ferns at the Garden are comprised in two col- 
lections, the hardy outdoor species and the tender conservatory 
cies. ost of the hardy ferns are in two beds, located, as 
noted above, at the south end of the herbaceous grounds, and 
comprising forty to fifty species. The larger bed includes also 
a thriving colony of Polypodium vulgare, one of the twélve or 
fifteen species native in the Garden. Recently, also, a bed has 
are grown under the most favorable conditions. 
number of recently described and older Dryopteris hybrids ‘have 
also been placed here, and it is hoped to make this collection as 
complete as possible, since fern hybrids constitute a class 6 
plants which are best preserved under cultivation. 
€ propagating houses in the same region contain a consider- 
able number of ferns, including plants sent over from the larger 
range to recuperate, many young plants not yet large enough for 
the public houses, and a case of filmy-ferns, representing all the 
plants of this family in cultivation at the Garden, This collec- 
tion is of value not only on account of the interest which attaches 
to this peculiar order of ferns, but because, as they have been 
grown, they have served as a sort of nursery for many other 
inds. 
The plants comprising this collection were shipped from 
