THE AMERICAN FERN SOCIETY 



President, Rev. Jas. A. Bates, South Royalfton Mass. 



Secretary, Prof. L. S. Hopkins, Lincoln High School, Pittsburg, Pa. 



Fern Students are cordially invited to join the society. Address either President 

 or Secretary for further information. The Fern Bulletin is sent free to members. 

 Annual Dues are $1, and should be sent to Mr. H.G.Rugg.Tres., Hanover, N.FL 



Members of the Society who fail to receive their 

 magazine properly addressed should not hold the pub- 

 lisher responsible since he is obliged to send the maga- 

 zine as directed. The correct addresses were marked 

 in the copy for the Annual Report by the editor but 

 for reasons best known to the officers, these changes 

 were not made. 



It was doubtless through some inadvertence that the 

 statement was made in the recent "Annual Report" 

 that a crisis was precipitated in the affairs of the So- 

 ciety by the demand of the publisher of Fern Bulletin 

 for cash in advance. As a matter of fact the agree- 

 ment between publisher and Society has always been 

 upon this basis. Subscribers to the magazine pay in 

 advance and there has never appeared to be any reason 

 why the Society should not do likewise especially as 

 it is not charged full price and is not asked to pay a 

 whole year in advance but only quarterly. It would 

 be interesting to know just why the executive council 

 allowed that incorrect statement to get into the report. 



Before the members of the American Fern Society 

 vote for a publication to be owned by the Society, it 

 would be well to investigate a little. Suppose you 

 show a copy of the Fern Bulletin to the nearest printer 

 and ask him what he would charge to duplicate it — 

 same quality of paper ink and presswork and same 

 number of pages. His reply will be something of a 

 revelation to those who fancy that the Society can own 

 its own publication to advantage. Every year the 



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