THE FERN BULLETIN 



95 



came the organ of the Sullivan Moss Chapter,a society 

 which was organized at the suggestion of the editor of 

 The Fern Bulletin. The first printed reference to such 

 a society was in the editorial pages of this magazine, 

 and while the editor took a less active part in the for- 

 mation of this society than he did in forming the 

 American Fern Society, it is nevertheless true that 

 both these important societies owe their existence in 

 the beginning to his efforts. In a less remote sense can 

 this magazine be said to have suggested the establish- 

 ment of The British Fern Gazette though for ^onie 

 years before that magazine appeared the need for such 

 a publication was urged and it is more than a coinci- 

 dence that the magazine is almost an exact duplicate of 

 The Fern Bulletin in size and typography. Its editor, 

 however, has marked out a very different field of opera- 

 tions and the publication bids fair to hold the same re- 

 lation to fern study in Britain that The Fern Bulletin 

 has held so long on this side of the water. In passing 

 it would give us pleasure to emphatically disclaim any 

 connection jyjith the founding of another recent publi- 

 cation which aspires to take up the burden we are about 

 to lay down, but though we did much to discourage its 

 appearance, we have some suspicion that if it were not 

 for us the publication would not be here. That it may 

 fall heir to all the problems of The Fern Bulletin is our 

 sincere wish. 



The editing of this magazine for twenty years has 

 not been an unmixed pleasure. There have been times 

 when but for our interest in the ferns themselves we 

 would have gladly shut up shop, but looking back 

 through the years, we realize that the pleasure has 

 overbalanced the disappointment. The work has 

 brought us many strong friends and spiced the mixture 



