May 16,1903. 
THE GARDEN IN Q WORLD 
419 
Gardening World. 
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EDITORIAL NOTES. 
Vild Finds of Ferns. 
The Gardening World, as well as other 
apers, often rail at the collectors of plants, 
lit particularly these who uproot them, 
liolesale for the purpose of disposing of 
lem to- dealers, who. sell them at Id. a root, 
here are collectors and collectors, however, 
ho rail a.t one another over the manner of 
ealing with the plants by those who find 
hem. Mr. Charles T. Druery, V.M.H., in 
ie “Fern Bulletin” for April last, is com¬ 
bining about the collecting of Ferns in 
-inerica by the pteridologists of that coun- 
7- He enters a protest against the collectr 
of a rare find for mere herbarium 
laterial, urging that the collectors destroy 
he finds by the mere removal of the fronds 
for the purpose of drying. He instances a 
form of Dicksonia. pilosiuscula, of which ten 
fronds were taken, at the time oil its dis, u 
covery. Later on in the season, when a 
second growth had been made, other six 
fronds, were collected. By thus denuding 
the Fern of its fronds twice in the season, the 
likelihood is. that the plant will die,,and no¬ 
thing will remain for future collectors, and 
the dried fronds merely constitute the 
epitaph of such rare Ferns that once existed, 
but. which no. others can now possess, except 
those who. were fortunate 1 enough to find 
them. Mr. Druery mentions the treatment 
he meted out to some of his own rare finds. 
He took up the plants entirely, took them 
home, potted them, and when, they had 
developed fertile fronds secured spores front 
which he raised in one instance 300 typical 
specimens!. These he freely distributed far’ 
and wide amongst his friends, so. that, owing 
to the number of cultivators, possessing these 
Ferns, others, in all parts of the. country may 
be supplied from such sources. His plan, is 
certainly a. better one than the first we men¬ 
tioned, but we think that. a. better plan would 
be. to leave the original specimen in the site 
where it grew, thereby leaving the Fern, flora 
of the district richer in Fern forms to that, 
extent at least. Visit the district again, by 
all means, and collect a. reasonable, number 
of fertile fronds for the purpose of raising 
young plants. The fewer people that know 
of the habitats of these rare specimens, the 
better. We think it a. pity that so. many 
really noteworthy finds have been wrested 
from their native habitats by man, and which 
probably will know them no. longer. Would 
it not be a better plan, for the. pteridologists 
to. mark the spot of these rare and good 
things in their notebooks, and merely estab¬ 
lish pilgrimages amongst, the confraternity 
to. go and see. these rarities on the occasion of 
holidays and other times, whether arranged 
or otherwise? Would it not occasion, then, 
a. rare pleasure to. see such Ferns growing in, 
the cradle of their birth, against, knowing the 
fact. that, they might have existed there 
without even a tombstone to. their memory ? 
■—o— 
Parliament and Fruit Trees. 
For some tune past Sir James. Rankin has 
been bringing a. Bill before Parliament in 
order to provide for the eradication of fun¬ 
goid diseases and injurious insects amongst 
fruit trees in nurseries. The idea, seems t.o, 
be that eveiy nursery containing stock 
should be inspected once a, year, and wher¬ 
ever disease or insect pests exist upon the 
trees, an order is to. be made by the. Board 
of Agriculture for their destruction. A clause 
provides compensation for loss that may he 
incurred' by the. growers of such trees. A good 
deal of adverse, criticism among nurserymen 
lias already been directed against the Bill, 
with, no doubt, a considerable amount of jus¬ 
tice. The probability, however, is that the 
Bill may not yet be fully understood or even 
explained by Sir James Rankin, himself. 
Nurseries alone, whether or not inspected, 
say, half a. dozen times in the year, will not, 
by any means., secure the entire eradication 
of pests. The fruitgrowers’ and market gar¬ 
deners’ plantations will necessarily have to 
be inspected just as closely as those of the 
nurserymen. Indeed, we think that an old 
orchard is the more likely place for fruit-tree 
diseases and pests than, a, nursery of young 
stock, constantly under the. watchful eye of 
the nurseryman himself. There is another 
aspect to the question, and that is the com¬ 
pensation to. be provided for loss, which may 
be incurred by the owners of stock. If this 
compensation is placed at a high rate, there 
are, no doubt, some growers sufficiently un¬ 
scrupulous. to take, advantage of it by allow¬ 
ing their stock to become a. prey to. insect 
and fungoid enemies with the. view of being 
recouped for their trouble. We hope, how¬ 
ever, that the Bill will be put. on a. proper 
footing to. do justice to everybody concerned, 
while at the same time making sure that the 
stock is thoroughly disinfected. 
—o—- 
National Chrysanthemum Society. 
From the annual report and schedule of 
prizes before us. we note the alterations made 
in the usual programme of the above society. 
For a. period of twenty-six years ttiey held 
their exhibitions, in the Royal Aquarium, 
which has now been sold. The society made 
that their headquarters, in 1877 at the time 
they were known as the Borough of Hack¬ 
ney Chrysanthemum Society, and from the 
time they had thus, established themselves 
at Westminster they flourished to, such an 
extent, both financially and otherwise, that it 
finally resulted in the change of the title of 
the society to that of the National Chrysan¬ 
themum. The final show was held at the 
Royal Aquarium in December last, and since 
then the committee have been busily engaged 
in finding fresh quarters. An arrangement 
lias been made with the Crystal Palace Co. 
for the holding of three, exhibitions—namely, 
on October 6th and 7th; on November 10th, 
11th, and 12th; and on December 8th and 
0th. We. note with some satisfaction, that 
the sum of £200 is. to be given, towards the 
prizes by the Crystal Palace Co.., for the three 
shows. Some revision of schedule, has. been 
necessitated, and entrance fees for members 
have been instituted, as well as some regula¬ 
tions. affecting the miscellaneous exhibits. 
These things, have been done with the object 
of strengtlf|nirig the income, and the society 
looks towards its members, to give their loyal 
support . We hope also that there will he no 
falling away in the. character and quality of 
the shows,, such as have hitherto been held 
at. Westminster. The. financial statements 
of the society seem in a fair way. 
