THE FERX BULLETIN 



121 



we have never broken. In the history of this publica- 

 tion we have never economized by issuing two numbers 

 in one and we never expect to do so. It is a cheap 

 way of catching up, but it has never appealed to us. 

 Eight more numbers of this magazine will be issued. 

 Xow is a good time to subscribe. 



BOOK NEWS. 



To those who have never given much consideration 

 to fern sports, Mr. C. T. Druery's recent book en- 

 titled "British Ferns and Their Varieties" will be a 

 revelation. On this side of the Atlantic fern students 

 for the most part have been content to collect the var- 

 ious species and marked varieties of ferns into her- 

 baria, and while quite aware that ferns often present 

 variations from the normal have seldom thought it 

 worth while to collect or even name them unless they 

 are of decidedly symmetrical growth and likely to re- 

 produce their characters in the wild without assistance. 

 Those who make a hobby of cultivating any ferns, ex- 

 cept such hardy species as will thrive without much 

 care in out-door ferneries, are comparatively rare, 

 while those who go in for crested and tasselled speci- 

 mens are so rare among our 92 millions as to be count- 

 ed on the fingers of one hand. Of course from this 

 list is excluded those dealers whose main interest is to 

 develop plants of bizarre form that some amateur may 

 care to add to his stock of plants in general. Nearly 

 the exact reverse of this is found in England. There 

 the normal fern fronds are very little appreciated and 

 collections of pressed specimens the exception. The 

 great interest is found in growing and propogating all 

 sorts of abnormal specimens both out of doors and in 

 conservatories. As a result, several British works de- 



