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seems to be no interest among the inhabitants in regard either 

 to ferns or any other of the native plants; even the mysterious 

 Obeah man making no use of them in his concoctions of ill 

 repute. 



Gouverneur, N. Y. 



SOME FERNS OF THE SIERRA NEVADA RANGE. 



By W. G. Watkins. 



The past year I have made a careful search for ferns in this 

 part of the Sierra Nevada range, taking in an area of country 

 about fifty miles north and south by thirty miles east and west, 

 and have succeeded in locating but fifteen different species. The 

 variations of climate are very great. 



In the west and south there is a tropical belt, while to the 

 north and east rises up the summit of the range, covered with 

 perpetual snow. In traveling over the country and viewing the 

 dense growth of vegetation, one would suppose it to be just the 

 place for ferns, but such is not the case. 



This country is very rich in general flora and is an ideal 

 field for the botanist, but it is so very mountainous that unless 

 one has been used to climbing mountains and has good staying 

 qualities he will not last long. There are numerous deep and 

 dark canyons that are just the home for rare plants, but one 

 might pass within a rod or two of one of nature's beauties, and 

 never see it. Every yard of ground has got to be explored 

 thoroughly, which takes plenty of time and patience, but these 

 are only trifles for the determined botanist. 



Adiantum palatum is very rare in this altitude, though quite 

 plentiful in high elevations on northern slopes of mountains, 

 always growing near running water and generally on very rough 

 and broken cliffs where the soil is light. I have not found it 

 below 2,000 feet elevation. Where the shade is very dense I have 

 found specimens three feet high and have noticed that the more 

 shade the finer and lighter it seems to grow, making the entire 

 plant much more beautiful. Adiantum emargmatum can be found 

 on most all rocky portions of the American river hills facing the 

 north, always on heavy clay soil. 



