October 14, 189 1.] 



Garden and Forest. 



48 



nature. To-day, again, one feels the power of the encroach- 

 ing forest ; of the littleness of man against the eternal forces. 

 Let him pause an instant and he is swept from the face of the 

 earth ; his proudest home a ruin, over which the wild vine 

 clambers; his once stirring town a prey to the readvancing 

 wilderness. Such sights, I am told, are to be seen in the far 

 west, where the embryo town, deserted, relapses into deso- 

 lation. A strange fear came upon me as I looked. We who pre- 

 serve forests do we not cherish a foe in this great blessing ? 

 The lonely terror of the great woods came upon me, and in 

 thought I saw this busy region once more a waste ; all this 

 bustling, nervous life stilled ; our civilization an overgrown 

 wreck ; an Oak-forest where the State-house stands ; a group 

 of Pines on Marblehead Neck. 



Climbing another of these hills I was reassured. There sat 

 Lynn upon the shore as large as life, with the chimneys of its 

 manufactories belching smoke, its railroads teeming with 

 traffic, its harbor white with sails. Other towns came into 

 view from other elevations- — Peabody and Salem, only three 

 miles distant from the park's eastern gate ; distant Danvers 

 among its Elms, and Wakefield, Maiden, Everett and Chelsea, 

 all within easy driving distance, on the west, while electric 

 cars, packed with people, were bringing throngs for rest and 

 solace to the wild solitudes of the great woods. 



Then came to me a new sense of pride in our people, who 

 in the midst of their struggle for a living, with all their greed 

 of gain thick upon them, find time to think of their children 

 and to plan an everlasting pleasure for the future citizens. 

 This friendliness of spirit is more fine even than the forest 

 which it cherishes, and one honors the men who conceive this 

 idea and labor to confer this boon upon their neighborhood. 



The moving spirit in acquiring this park for Lynn was Mr. 

 C. M. Tracy, whose zeal and example induced many citizens 

 to join in purchasing the land which was a nucleus for future 

 acquisitions. Later, like all great enterprises, it outgrew its 

 founders, and the town itself had to come in with its right of 

 eminent domain, and add more and more to the reservation. 

 Lovers of nature and the people, like Mr. P. A. Chase, have 

 bought other forest-lands to protect it and ultimately increase 

 the noble dimensionsof the park, andsothegood vvorkgoeson. 



A fine grove of noble Hemlocks was rescued from the very 

 axe of the headsman by Mr. Chase, and forms one of the most 

 beautiful ornaments of the park, the trees being of great size, 

 with a stony brook flowing between the hills on which they 

 grow. Cardinal-flowers bloom, and great Ferns wave beside 

 this murmuring stream, and the sunlight sifts in among the 

 branches, and makes of it an enchanted grove, from which 

 there is an outlook upon one of the four ponds that add so 

 much to the charm of this region of rock and woodland. 



1 have not spoken of the beauty of the drives, which, follow- 

 ing the lines of the old cart-paths, wind in graceful curves all 

 through the forest, nor of the wild paths that lead by short 

 cuts to Dungeon Rock and to the look-outs from the hill-tops, 

 as well as to interesting vistas and places of interest. It was a 

 pleasant sight to see car-loads of people hurrying to the woods 

 for change of scene, and to hear the echo of glad children's 

 voices and to see the look of enjoyment in the tired faces of 

 pale mothers who had escaped hither from the town. 



The scheme of the park includes places of recreation for 

 young and old. The drained marsh in winter will be excellent 

 for skating. There are to be ball-grounds and tennis-courts, 

 and conveniencies for picnics, rough tables and seats being 

 already provided for the last in an appropriate place. It is the 

 People's Palace, where they can take continual delight, and to 

 which not only the inhabitants of Lynn can resort, but those 

 of seven neighboring towns, none of which are more than 

 three miles from its various entrance-gates. This great 

 domain is the magnificent gift of a generous people to the 

 Commonwealth, and well may the citizens of Lynn take pride 

 in so princely a possession. 



Our " great, avaricious, sensual America," that Emerson 

 talks of, has a warm heart beating in her young breast, and a 

 generous hand to give. Never is the cry of the needy unheard 

 by her, and to her children she gives royally and wisely. 



This noble public spirit in our people, this large-hearted, 

 open-handed bestowing, is a splendid sign for the future. If these 

 things are done in the green tree, what shall be done in the 

 dry? If now, in the hot impatience of hungry youth, our 

 citizens still plan for the future of their neighborhoods, how 

 much the more, as the country matures, will these gifts in- 

 crease, as, fired by the great examples of their ancestors, the 

 future sons of the Republic lay the foundations of long-endur- 

 ing benefactions, none, however, to be more precious to the 

 people than the great and beautiful woods of Lynn. 



Hingham, Mass. M. C. RobbhlS. 



Filices Mexicanae. — 11. 



WE now continue the enumeration of the Ferns col- 

 lected during the seasons of 1888, 1889 and 1890, 

 by Mr. C. G. Pringle, of Charlotte, Vermont, in the states 

 of Nuevo Leon, Jalisco, San Louis Potosi and Machoacan, 

 Mexico. We are indebted to Mr. George E. Davenport, 

 of Medford, Massachusetts, for the list, together with notes 

 and descriptions of new species and varieties. The num- 

 bers used correspond with those on Mr. Pringle's tickets 

 which accompany his distribution. 



Asplenium pumilum, Swz. (2583). Shaded damp banks of 

 Barranca, September, 1889 ; also 2028, same locality, Decem- 

 ber, 1888. This is undoubtedly true pumilum, and very dis- 

 tinct from Pringle's 1444 of his 1887 collection, which was 

 referred to this species with some hesitation in "Fern Notes," 

 X., in Btilletin of the Torrey Botanical Club, vol. xv., p. 226, 

 and which will now have to be otherwise disposed of. Pro- 

 fessor Eaton suggests that it may be a very dwarf form of A. 

 Mexicanum, Mart. & Gal., now A. fragra?is, or a possible 

 hybrid between that species and A. pumilum. But whether 

 those species grew in the same locality, or near by, where it 

 was collected, or not, I do not know, as my own specimens of 

 all three Ferns were collected in different localities far apart. 

 It is, however, unlike any form of A.fragrans that I have seen, 

 and, as it is left in so unsatisfactory a condition of determina- 

 tion, I venture, as a possible solution, to give to it the provi- 

 sional name of A. dubiosum, in recognition of its present 

 uncertain character, and submit the following brief diagno- 

 sis : 



Asplenium dubiosum (1444). Collection of 1887, n. sp. 

 Stipites tufted, 1' to 2' long, brown, naked; lamina? 1' to 2' 

 long, J^' to i 1 /.' broad at base, varying from oblong-lanceolate 

 to deltoid-ovate or triangular, pinnately divided into from two 

 to four pairs of wedge-shaped ovate or obliquely ovate pinnae, 

 lower ones the largest ; upper portion sinuately pinnatifid, 

 with obliquely obovate or cuneate dentate divisions, to the 

 apex ; lowermost pinna? deeply cleft into one or two pairs of 

 obliquely obovate or wedge-shaped toothed divisions at the 

 base, and sharply dentate to the apices ; texture coriaceous ; 

 main rachis green, channeled along the face and extending 

 downward on to the stipes ; sori oblique, becoming confluent 

 when mature. 



Habitat : Ledges, Arroyo, Aucho, Sierra Madre, state of 

 Chihuahua, October 15th, 1887. Resembles A. pumilum in the 

 shape of its fronds, but with the evergreen texture of A. mon- 

 tanum, and more sharply toothed divisions. 



Asplenium Shepherdi, Spreng. (2025). Under wet cliffs near 

 Guadalajara, December, 1888. A form which appears to me 

 to be var. inequilaterum, Baker. 



Asplenium Trichomanes, L., var. repens, Davenport (1838). 

 Moist banks near Guadalajara, November, 1888. 



Botrychium Virginianum, Swartz (3408). Wooded hills of 

 Patzcuaro, October, 1890. 



Blechnum occidentale, L. (1870). Springy banks near 

 Guadalajara, November, 1888. 



Cheilanthes Coopers, D. C. Eaton (1863). Shady mossy 

 ledges or rocky banks, in damp places, chiefly'in the Barranca 

 and its branch canons, November, 1888. 



Cheilanthes gracillima, D. C. Eaton (2037). Dry ledges 

 of Sierra Madre. Altitude 8,500 feet, October, 1888. 



Cheilanthes lendigera, Swartz (3368). Dry ledges, hills of 

 Patzcuaro, November, 1890. Specimens large and beautiful. 



Cheilanthes meifolia, D. C. Eaton (1987). Northern slope 

 of the Sierra Madre, near Monterey, abundant on cool, shady, 

 often rocky, steep banks of gulches and ravines, June, 1888. 



Cheilanthes microphylla, Swartz (1988). With broadly 

 deltoid or triangular-ovate fronds, from limestone gulches 

 and shady banks of mountains east of Monterey ; and (1989) 

 with tall and narrow fronds from partially shaded banks of 

 dry gulches in cool, shady canons, foot-hills of the Monterey, 

 Sierra Madre, June, 1888 ; also 2024, from near Guadalajara, 

 December, 1888, a very pubescent form, with broadly oblong- 

 fronds. The three forms are distinct enough in appearance 

 for different species, but I can find no good characters by 

 which to separate them even as varieties. 



Cheilanthes Palmeri, D. C. Eaton (2584). Shaded ledges, 

 near Guadalajara, September, 1889. 



Cheilanthes tomentosa, Link (2603). Near Guadalajara, 

 1889, a rather lax form, with but slight pubescence. 



Cheilanthes viscosa, Link (1842). Moist banks, near 

 Guadalajara, November, 1888, large and fine. 



Dicksonia rubiginosa, Kaulf (3407). Rich ravines, Tama- 

 sopo Canon, June, 1890. 



