THE FERN BULLETIN 



127 



posed that the magazine adopt a standard of nomencla- 

 ture and allow contributors to contribute in no other. 

 This interesting method of binding and gagging the 

 opposition has never appealed very strongly to us, per- 

 haps because we have a very decided objection to being 

 made the victim of such proceedings ourselves. The 

 editor believes in everybody having his say, and has 

 never yet refused to print an article because it attacked 

 him or his opinions. He continues to have opinions 

 every little while just the same, and when he does he is 

 quite likely to express them. The ideal editor in the 

 minds of many who have axes to grind is that he should 

 be a sort of combined proof-reader and office boy, and 

 not meddle with the contents of his publication; but we 

 think otherwise. We must emphasize the fact, how- 

 ever, that the columns of this magazine are open to 

 anybody anywhere to say what he pleases on fern mat- 

 ters, so long as his remarks will pass through the mails 

 unchallenged. He may use any brand of nomenclature 

 he likes — antiquated, international, or New York local ; 

 he may be as conservative as a Chinaman or as radical 

 as the worst of the "I-saw-it-first" school; he may de- 

 scribe genera as species or forms as genera — in short, 

 we shall place no restrictions on the nature of contribu- 

 tions, so long as we are not asked to subscribe to them 

 or forget that we have a mind of our own. 



Just here we picked up an editorial in the Independ- 

 ent that expresses our position so much better than we 

 can do it ourselves that we quote as follows : "We have 

 an idea of what such a journal as this ought to be. It 

 is not a bunch of posies nor even a bundle of herbs or 

 a package of candy. Its purpose is not to be sweet and 

 please everybody. What is it in a journal that holds 

 *he affection of its readers, that makes them take it 



