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THE FERN BULLETIN 



the exotic fern that has yielded more desirable varieties 

 to the cultivator than any other, and it is practically 

 certain that our native species may be induced to do 

 something similar, or even better. The ordinary 

 Christmas fern is valued for decorative planting, and 

 the new form, like the species, being perfectly hardy, 

 while Nephrolepis exaltata is not, will have unusual 

 value for out of door planting. Unfortunately the 

 fern is slow to multiply. Up to the present, all new 

 plants have originated from divisions of the crown, 

 but it is likely that other ways of increasing it will be 

 found. 



GRAPE FERNS. 



By Adella Prescott. 

 One who thinks of a fern as a graceful plant, tall 

 and stately like the ostrich fern or dainty and exquisite 

 like the maidenhair or oak fern finds it hard to believe 

 that the Botrychium with its short fleshy stalk and 

 spreading horizontal blade has even a remote relation- 

 ship to so elegant a family. But an examination of 

 the fertile part of the frond will convince the most 

 skeptical (if he has any real knowledge of ferns) that 

 these sturdy plants are surely ferns though some de- 

 grees removed, perhaps, from the highest forms, and 

 while they lack the stateliness of some and the dainti- 

 ness of others they yet have an attractiveness all their 

 own in the rich coloring of their substantial fronds 

 and the sturdy common sense that makes these late 

 comers keep close to the ground where they are soon 

 snugly covered by the falling leaves. Botrychium Vir- 

 ginianum, the rattlesnake fern, is perhaps the tallest 

 member of the family and, making its appearance in 

 early summer, has something of the delicacy and grace 



