—79— 



sale of evergreens is a legitimate industry. Several States 

 have so far discountenanced it as to make laws forbidding 

 the collection of ferns and evergreens from the lands of 

 another without permission, but on the other hand, even 

 the legislators themselves are likely to prove good pur- 

 chasers of evergreens at the holiday season. Personally 

 I would not sell the evergreens on any land of mine for 

 many times the current price, but so long as the owners 

 of our forests are willing to sweep them away at the com- 

 mand of the highest bidder the lesser products of the 

 woods will doubtless vanish with them. 



NOTES ON ASPIDIUM CRISTATUM 



This is one of the most interesting species, showing as 

 it does the effects of light and surroundings upon its 

 growth. In its natural habitat it is usually surrounded by 

 a dense low growth of other plants that, like itself, luxu- 

 riate in rich, damp woods and swamps. The fertile fronds 

 grow almost vertically and are two or three times as long 

 as the sterile ones which are simply ascending. The fer- 

 tile fronds no doubt grow this way because it is more 

 important for the preservation and increase of the species 

 that the spore-bearing part of the plant should receive 

 every advantage due to better light, more air, etc., than 

 that the sterile parts should avail themselves of such ad- 

 vantages. It must also be noted that the sterile fronds 

 are a shade lighter in color than the sterile ones on the 

 same plant. But most interesting of all, the pinnules on 

 the fertile fronds are turned so as to lie in a horizontal 

 plane. Reading of this in a book gave me a clue to the 

 following observations : I planted some of the ferns in 

 my yard in the city near a. board fence so that they had 

 only a northern exposure. This spring the ferns came up 

 luxuriantly and bore many sori. The ferns nearest the 

 fence had the upper surface of the pinnae turned almost 

 directly outward so that the pinnea were nearly in the 

 plane of the stipe. On the fronds farthest from the fence, 



