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THE FERN BULLETIN 



ments he expresses are not correct, but simply because 

 they do not happen to agree with the opinion of the 

 public. As most of our readers have discovered the edi- 

 tor has an opinion of his own, every little while and 

 when this happens it is likely to appear in print. When 

 this first began it was quite a surprise to learn that 

 everybody who subscribed for the magazine did not 

 subscribe to his opinions as well ; that, in fact, they 

 had opinions of their own and often diametrically op- 

 posed to the choicest sentiments he had expressed. 

 Now and then someone would rise up to remonstrate 

 with the editor and finding him deaf to argument 

 would get peevish and quit the magazine. Really, it 

 seems little short of marvelous to such people how we 

 have managed to get along as well as we have. And 

 some of them refuse to stay with us for such trivial 

 reasons. One individual over in Roxbury and another 

 down on Staten Island quit because we wouldn't issue 

 a bigger index and a lot more have stopped because 

 we persisted in writing editorials. Come to think of 

 it this magazine and the American Botanist are about 

 the only two botanical publications that can boast an 

 editor. The so-called editors on most of the others 

 are mere proof-readers and copy-holders — sort of 

 elevated errand boys. We are quite aware that ex- 

 pressions of opinion that amount to anything are dan- 

 gerous to let loose. Nevertheless we rather like to 

 say what we think. If subscribers do not agree with 

 us, let them set our disagreement down as a case of 

 mental obliquity on our part and forget it. To start a 

 new publication to spite the editor would cost a deal 

 of money and look just as foolish as other attempts in 

 that line. 



