58 



man (the parentage of which he gave me) which appeared 

 to be almost indistinguishable from some of Jones' and 

 Fox's raising. Further experiments in this direction may 

 yield a solution. 



It seems a great pity that the history of such a wonderful 

 advance should be wrapped in mystery. 



In conclusion, I would express the hope that next year 

 may witness our customary August reunion under happier 

 circumstances than those which at present cast a dark 

 shadow over our own country and a large part of Europe. 



W. B. Cranfield. 

 December , 1915. 



RESULTS OF FERN SELECTION. 



It is extremely interesting to consider, taking the Ferns 

 of the whole world into consideration, what an enormous 

 difference exists between the small proportion of varieties 

 or " sports " as compared with normals among the 

 hundreds of exotic species as compared with the great 

 number produced by our own few native species, about 

 two score only. This difference, be it noted, exists, 

 despite the fact that a large proportion of these exotic 

 species, hardy and tender, have been in trade hands for a 

 much longer period than our native ones. These latter 

 indeed for a long time were all but entirely ignored, and only 

 became the objects of selective cultivation when the last 

 century was well advanced, and when considerable collec- 

 tions of exotics had been introduced. These, too, had 

 been raised on a considerable scale from spores by the 

 nurserymen who dealt with decorative foliage plants, 

 including ferns, and who, of course, paid particular atten- 

 tion to any sports which cropped up in their propagative 

 cultures. 



