452 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[June ^6, 1887. 



FERNS. 



We have receit of fern-seed, we walke invisible. 



—King Henry IV., Part I., Act II., Scene 1. 



OF the plants that grow in the woods there are none 

 more interesting, to my mind, than the ferns. I 

 well remember, when a boy, I noticed for the first time 

 the brown spots that appear on the under sides of the 

 fronds in the latter part of summer. I wondered what 

 the strange bodies were; what part they had in the life of 

 the plant. I did not know that for a long time it had 

 been a great puzzle to the botanists to tell what these 

 brown patches were. A few years later, when I learned 

 a little geology, my interest in ferns was greatly increased; 

 for then I knew that this family of plants grew and flour- 

 ish ed upon the earth ages and ages before the tall, thick- 

 stemmed trees that now tower above them. In those 

 days, we are told, the rich young earth was well nigh 

 taken possession of by luxuriant fern forests. Their huge 

 fronds bent and waved in the air; perhaps strange birds 

 flew among them, and odd, ungainly reptiles hid in their 

 cool shade. And these fern forests, growing year after 

 year and century after century, gave rise to the immense 

 coal deposits, the benefit of which we enjoy. From one- 

 third to one-half of all the kno vn species of coal plants, 

 both in America and Europe, belong to the fern family. 



Perhaps the most common fern is that called the 

 bracken (Pterin aquilina). It is to be found growing in 

 moist places in woods almost in all parts of orb.- country. 

 Its large green leaves or fronds rise sometimes to the height 

 of 5 or 6ft. The stem from which they grow lies under- 

 ground, and by the unknowing would be taken for the 

 root. The true roots, however, are easy to be found, 

 being thread-like and growing from the underground 

 stem. The old plant endures for many years, the old 

 f ronds dying down and new ones shooting up annually. 



The life-history of the bracken f em, or, for that matter, 

 of any fern, is an exceedingly interesting one. Every 

 one who has admired its handsome fronds and observed 

 that it produces no flowers, and so, of course, no seeds, 

 must have wondered in what way new plants are pro- 

 duced. It is commonly known, to be sure, that the brown 

 spots on the under sides of the leaves are spore cases, and 

 that the spores contained in them take the place of the 

 seeds of flowering plants. But few know the remarkable 

 process of the development of a spore into a new fern 

 plant. The study my properly begin with an examina- 

 tion of the spore itself. Under the microscope it is seen 

 to consist of a firm sack or case containing a soft fluid 

 contents; it is, in fact, a simple vegetable cell. But 

 though so simple in structure, there inheres in it that prin- 

 ciple of life, so mysterious to us, which shall develop it into 

 a new plant. "When, by the rupture of the spore case, a 

 spore has fallen to the ground, what happens is that, under 

 the influence of warmth and moisture, it gives forth a 

 tiny process comparable to a sprout. This process grows 

 in length and at the same time gives off a branch which 

 sinks into the soil like a root, which, indeed, it is. For 

 the sprout-like part gets larger and larger and finally be- 

 comes a flat, two-lobed green leaf, getting its nourish- 

 ment from the soil through rootlets attached to its lower 

 surface. So the minute single-celled spore has developed 

 into a true giant (called a prothallus) consisting of a leaf- 

 like expansion with roots and, in respect to its structure, 

 of very many cells joined together. But this plant is 

 very unlike the fern plant which produced the spore. 

 However, it grows no further, but it gives rise to the true 

 reproductive elements of the fern-plant; elements which 

 correspond to the pollen or flower-dust, and the ovules of 

 the flowering plant. And this brings us to a very im- 

 portant difference between the ferns and the common 

 flowering plants; the latter produce floAvers, the essential 

 parts of which are the male and female reproductive cells, 

 which by their union give rise to seeds, and the latter 

 having fallen to the ground spring into new plants like 

 those which bore the flowers. But the ferns not only 

 produce spores instead of seed, but these spores give rise 

 to plants not at all like the fern-plant — plants which, in 

 fact, have the same office as the flowers of the other class, 

 namely, to produce the male and female reproduction cells. 

 By the union of these cells a new fern plant is developed. 



The most interesting and remarkable part of the life- 

 history of a fern plant is that which relates to the produc- 

 tion and union of these sexual cells. Let us return, to our 

 leaf-like prothallus. Soon after it has attained its growth, 

 rounded elevations appear- on its lower surface. They are 

 very small, indeed, too small to be seen with the unaided 

 eye; but they are destined to play a very important part 

 in the generation of a new fern plant. When the eleva- 

 tions have reached a condition of maturity they split open 

 and there issue from them small bodies possessing some 

 very remarkable properties. Each is spiral in shape, 

 thick at one end and tapering toward the other; attached 

 to the thin end are a number of vibrating filaments or 

 cilia. By the movements of these cilia the curious body 

 swims about in the drops of water that adhere to the leaf 

 — water formed as dew or having fallen as rain. To look 

 at it as it swims about in this way no one would suspect 

 that it was any part of a plant. It is difficult to resist the 

 impression that it is an organism possessed with an indi- 

 viduality, that its movements are purposeful, that it 

 glides to the right or left by its own volition. But we 

 shall surely be nearer the truth if we say that the little 

 body moves simply because it is a property of its substance 

 to move, that it is a bit of living matter to which belongs, 

 along with other properties, that of motion. To under- 

 stand what object is served by its possession of this 

 property of motion we must turn to another product 

 of growth in the prothallus. At the middle of 

 its wider end the leaf becomes considerably thick- 

 ened, and on the lower surface of this thickened 

 portion a slight eminence makes its appearance. This 

 grows until it takes on a form comparable to a chimney. 

 With a microscope one can see that at the bottom of the 

 hollow of the chimney there is a round sac or cell. It is 

 evident that the whole purpose of the chimney-like 

 growth is the production of this cell, the parts surround- 

 ing it serving for its nourishment and protection. This 

 cell, in fact, is destined to develop into a new fem plant. 

 But before this development begins it is necessary that it 

 shall come into union with one of the swimming spirals. 

 Accordingly, one of these bodies, having found its way 

 to the mouth of the chimney, enters it and works its Avay 

 along the passage to the cell. The two seem to unite, 

 and this having taken place an activity is at once set up 

 in the cell. It rapidly grows and gives rise, by successive 

 divisions, to other cells, all of them deriving nourishment 

 from the thick portion of the leaf to which they are 



attached. The group of cells thus formed gradually takes 

 on the form of a plant, one part becoming stem and an- 

 other root. The root, as we shou d expect, sinks into the 

 soil, but the stem does not grow upward, as in ordinary 

 plants, but horizontally, and finally itself becomes covered 

 with soil. However, it gives rise to leaves which grow 

 upward and become the tall graceful fronds of the fern 

 plant. Meanwhile the little prothallus has quite disap- 

 peared; as soon as its purpose had been accomplished, 

 which, of course, was the production of the male and fe- 

 male cells, it withered away. And here, again, the analogy 

 of the prothallus with the flower of the higher plant's 

 suggests itself. Just as the flower withers away when it 

 has produced the pollen and the embryo seeds, so the pro- 

 thallus dies when it has produced corresponding elements. 

 And this comparison further suggests that the differences 

 in the life processes relating to the reproduction of the 

 ferns and flow T ering plants are not so great as they at first 

 thought appear. The chief difference appears to be only 

 this: the flowering plant provides nourishment out of its 

 own resources for the production of the seed-bearing 

 parts; the ferns do not do this, but the seed-bearing part 

 is provided with leaf and roots by which it gets nourish- 

 ment for itself. The fem plant, therefore, is able to use 

 all the food matter it gets from the soil and the air for the 

 growth of its large leaves; it needs to use no energy for 

 the production of flowers and fruit, except, of course, the 

 small amount needed to produce the spores. This fact 

 helps to explain the luxuriant growth of fems both in 

 geologic times and at present. To get a knowledge of 

 ferns at their best we must go to the tropics. One species, 

 Cyathea medullaris, found in New Zealand, grows to a 

 height of 80ft., and Alsophila australis, in Australia, to 

 even a greater height. The fronds of the latter are some- 

 times 20ft. long. 



The reproduction of all ferns is essentially the same as 

 that described for the common bracken fern. It is only 

 about forty years ago that the facts were found out. In 

 olden times there used to be a notion that ferns were pro- 

 duced from invisible seeds. Hence, the line at the head 

 of this article. S. 



\mnt and 



Address all mmrnuvications to the Forest and Stream Pub. Co. 



THE NATIONAL PARK. 



LOWER GEYSER BASIN, May 30.— Editor Forest 

 and Stream: We arrived here on May 24 with the 

 first wagon to pass over the road this year. Leaving 

 Gardiner, we found Road Superintendent Lamartine had 

 two crews at work putting 'the roads in first-class con- 

 dition. This work will require an expenditure of part of 

 the $4,000 left over from last year's appropriation. 



At the Mammoth Hot Springs some very necessary 

 work is being done. All the old stumps on the flat in 

 front of the hotels have been taken out and every un- 

 sightly object burned or carted off. The whole flat is to 

 be hand-raked and cleaned. The old bath houses and 

 many of the unsightly Government buildings will be re- 

 moved. All this work adds much to the general appear- 

 ance of the Springs. A few large drifts of snow yet re- 

 main about the Hot Springs and the terraces remind 

 one of the severe winter just passed. 



Following the road from the Springs, one finds no 

 snow until Kingman's Pass is reached. Here there is one 

 deep drift. The horses had to be unlrtehed and the 

 wagon taken over by hand. Glenn Creek was crossed 

 on a deep drift which hides the bridge, only a bit of the 

 railing showing. From here on there was no snow until 

 we crossed Willow Creek. Then the drifts increased in 

 number and depth. Willow Park was covered with 

 ice and snow. Entering the timber, the road was full 

 of snow from 1 to 5ft. deep until Obsidian Cliffs was 

 reached. We had no difficulty with the snow; where it 

 was deep the horses and wagon went over it, the wheels 

 cutting in but a few inches. From Obsidian Cliffs on 

 there was snow only in the road where it ran through 

 timber in shaded places until a place known as the Brick 

 Yard was reached, about five miles from Norris Hotel. 

 From there on we found no snow, except a little in the 

 timber between Norris Basin and Gibbon Meadow. 

 The meadow was wet and muddy, but much dryer than 

 usually at this time of the year. The road over in to the 

 Lower and Upper Basin is free from snow. About sixty 

 trees had to be cut out of the way. Others were lifted 

 around to one side, some we drove around. 



In a meadow near Twin Lakes four elk were seen feed- 

 ing. I saw one small silver-tip bear at Willow Creek 

 crossing. 



On the morning of the 25th a large yellow-faced grizzly 

 bear came within 250yds. of the hotel here; he came from 

 the Queen's Laundry Basin, crossed the Fire Hole and 

 meadows within sight of the house, walking leisurely 

 along, now and then stopping to feed on an ant heap, 

 then entei'ed some dead timber where he rolled logs over 

 for grubs, hunted mice and beetles, but paying no atten- 

 tion to the carcas of a dead horse which he walked around. 

 He was probably in delicate health and could eat only 

 choice food. He would pick up a bit of sod with his foot, 

 and after critically examining it, eat some root, then drop 

 the sod and walk on in rather a zigzag course. Several 

 times he came toward the hotel as though with the inten- 

 tion of making us a visit. We watched him through field 

 glasses until out of eight in the timber on Nez Perce 

 Creek. We then went out and measured his tracks, the 

 hind foot not counting; claws were 8in. long. Judging 

 from that he would weigh from 500 to 5501bs. at least, 

 possibly more. 



Several bears have been seen by the people residing in 

 the Park, at the Upper Basin, the Grand' Canon and by 

 people traveling the roads. There was one bison seen 

 between here and the Upper Basin, and on the 24th, the 

 tracks of eight where they crossed the wagon road; one 

 of them a calf by the tracks. Elk are passing through 

 the basins, scattering out for their summer range. The 

 cows are now with their calves, the little things making 

 a track like a young lamb. There is nothing pretty about 

 a young elk but its head. When very young it is one of 

 the most awkward of all the wild animals. After they 

 are two months old they are very pretty and playful. 



Sandhill cranes, geese and ducks are now nesting here. 

 Thousands of song birds keep the air ringing with their 



music, meadowlarks and robins being most numerous. 

 Several robins have their nests close to the hotel, one 

 under the eaves of the kitchen. Not a day passes now 

 without one's seeing game of some kind in the Park. 

 The early tourist has come and seen game — bear, elk and 

 deer. While the travel is light, game will be plenty along 

 the roads, but when tourists are passing over the roads 

 every day, the game of all kinds will get out of sight. 



The worst enemy the Park has is fire. I noticed one 

 small one on the Gardiner River, between the town of 

 that name and the Mammoth Hot Springs, and a place 

 where a small grove of juniper trees had been lately 

 killed by a fire. How these fires were started I could not 

 learn; not from camping parties, but from some smoker's 

 burning match or cigar stump, I think. 



Now is the time to use caution about fires. A little 

 carelessness on the part of a camper, or even the tourist 

 in coaches throwing a lighted match or unextinguished 

 cigar or cigarette end in the dry grass or pines, will cause 

 a fire. The damage it can do it is impossible to estimate. 

 The game killed can be easily replaced by natural increase 

 in a few years, but every acre of timber burned will take 

 from fifty to a hundred years to replace. 



All the streams in the Park are banksful, the rivers are 

 hurrying the waters out of Park. By the time these notes 

 are published the roads will all be dry and dusty, there 

 will be no snow except in the mountains, the hotel will 

 be opened, and the tourist will have possession. H. 



GUNPOWDER TESTS. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



In the Forest and Stream for June 2, "F. F. F." quotes 

 with approval from "that rifle expert P." as follows: 

 "The Curtis & Harvey's No. 6 is not only 15 to 20 per cent, 

 stronger than any American powder I have tried, but it 

 is cleaner and better in every way for a rifle." 



Thirty years ago Messrs. Curtis & Harvey probably 

 made the best powder in the world, and that firm deserve 

 great credit for having uniformly maintained a very high 

 standard for some of their brands, and notably the "Dia- 

 mond Grain." But it is of importance that sportsmen 

 should know whether other powders can be obtained 

 equally good, and the following tests can be relied on as 

 made with the utmost accuracy, and with the benefit of 

 the best appliances. The writer has carried out similar 

 trials for many years, and the results here given are the 

 latest, corresponding closely, however, with former ones. 

 In the table, A, B, C and are the best powders of the four 

 leading manufacturers in the United States. The next 

 two are English, E being the "Alliance" of Pigou, Wilks & 

 Lawrence, and F the"Diamond Grain" of Curtis & Har- 

 vey. G is made by a Canadian company. 



Test December 21. 1886. "Weather clear and fine; no wind. Ther- 

 mometer 20° Fahr.; barometer 29.5 inches. 



Powder. 



Density. 



Velocity. 



Residuum. 





1.745 



1226.7 



355 



B 



1.7558 



1256.1 



340 





1.798 



1119.5 



m 



D 



1.73 



1120.0 



300 



E 



1.7549 



1200.6 



295 



F 



1.732 



1228.1 



320 



a i 



1.781 



1234.4 



290 



The density is the absolute specific gravity determined 

 by the Bianchi mercurial densimeter. Other things being 

 equal (but they seldom are), the more dense or hard the 

 powder is the better. Measured charges contain greater 

 quantity, the combustion, and therefore power developed, 

 is more uniform, and the liability to deterioration from 

 keeping or handling is less. On the other hand, light 

 powder is quicker, and to that extent cleaner. For the 

 remaining tests all the powders were first carefully sifted 

 until grain was obtained of perfectly uniform size, in 

 the present case one nearly identical with C. & H. No. 6. 

 The velocity or strength was then measured with a Le 

 Boulenge chronograph, the figures given being the actual 

 speed of the bullet in feet midway between the electric 

 targets, here 55ft. from the muzzle of the gun. This can 

 be easily reduced to initial or muzzle velocity by the for- 

 mula in the ordnance books, but it does not affect the re- 

 sult. The arm selected, on account of the heavy bullet, 

 was the old pattern Springfield musket, .SScal., but of 

 course one which had never been used. This was con- 

 verted into a breechloader by E. Remington & Sons, and 

 selected from the best they had in stock for the purpose. 

 The powder charges, 77grs. each, were accurately 

 weighed, not measured. The bullets were made to order 

 by the Winchester Arms Co., and those picked out weigh- 

 ing exactly 480grs. each. The figures given are the aver- 

 age of ten shots with each powder. As showing relative 

 uniformity, the maximum variation from that average 

 was, for any single shot, in feet, of A, 36.4; B, 7.5; C, 20 5; 

 D, 9.0; E, 9.0; F, 16.1: and G, 15.0. It should be remem- 

 bered that hi most rifled arms slowness within certain 

 limits increases uniformity. 



The residuum or cleanliness is determined thus. The 

 thoroughly cleaned barrel of a 10-gauge single-barreled 

 breechloading gun, made for the purpose with extra in- 

 side polish and an arrangement for instant detachment 

 f rom the stock, is accurately weighed in a balance capa- 

 ble of showing one-half milligram with that load. Ten 

 shots ai-e then taken at intervals of one minute, and after 

 the last the barrel immediately weighed again, before it 

 can absorb any moisture from the atmosphere, and the 

 increase notel As some powder shows much less resid- 

 uum when the barrel is cool, this test is then repeated, 

 after carefully cleaning, with the same sample, but at 

 five minutes interval between each of the ten shots. The 

 mean weight of the residuum, in milligrams, from these 

 two trials is the result given in the table. The charges 

 are measured; li drams powder and 4 drams Tatham's 

 No. 9 chilled shot. Eley's best paper shells and w T ads are 

 used. In the present trial the maximum fouling in any 

 series of ten shots was, C, 420 rug.; the minimum, G, 220 

 mg. It can be seen from the above that the powder in 

 question stands very high upon the fist, but taking every- 

 thing into consideration there are two that surpass it, 

 while a fourth makes a very close approximation. Evi- 

 dently, however, the wise readers of Forest and Stream 

 (and axe they not all such ?) need be at no loss for good 

 gunpowder. T. C. B, 



