DODGE, RAYNAL.  Born at Newburyport, Mass., September 9, 1844.  Civil War veteran.  Wounded at Port Hudson, June 28, 1863.  A machinist by trade.  A careful observer and student of nature, he discovered Aspidium simulatum at Follymill, Seabrook, N.H., in 1880. (Whittier’s “My Playmate,” verse 9.) He discovered also the hybrid Aspidium cristatum x Marginale.  He published his little book, “Ferns and Fern Allies of New England,” in 1896.  Died October 20, 1918.

EATON, ALVAH AUGUSTUS.  Born at Seabrook, N.H., November 20, 1865.  Studied at the Putnam School in Newburyport, but was largely self-educated.  He took up teaching for several years, spending three years in California.  Returning East, he became a florist and began to write for various fern journals, giving special attention to the fern allies.  He prepared the genera Equisetum and Isoetes for the seventh edition of “Gray’s Manual.”  He proved the keenness of his observing powers by discovering several ferns new to the United States.  Died at his home in North Easton, Mass., September 29, 1908.

WILLIAMSON, JOHN.  Born in Abernathy, Scotland, about the year 1838.  He came to Louisville, Ky., to live in 1866.  A wood-carver by trade, he could work skillfully in wood or metal, and after a time established a brass foundry.  His friend, George E. Davenport, writes of him:  “He caught as by some divine gift or inspiration the innermost life and feelings of the wild flowers and ferns, and his marvelously accurate needle transfixed them with revivifying power on paper or metal.”  His “Ferns of Kentucky,” issued in 1878, was the first handbook on ferns published in the United States.  He died June 17, 1884, in the mountains of West Virginia, whither he had gone for his health.

FERN LITERATURE

AMERICAN FERN JOURNAL. 1910.  The American Fern Society. (Annual subscription, $1.25.)

BELAIRS, NONA.  Hardy Ferns.  Smith, Elder and Co.  London, 1865.

BRITISH FERN GAZETTE.

BRITTEN, JAMES.  European Ferns.  Colored Plates.  Cassell & Co.  London. 
Quarto.

BUTTERS, F.K.  Athyrium.  Study of the American Lady Ferns.  Rhodora,
September, 1917.

CAMPBELL, D.H.  Structure and Development of the Mosses and Ferns.  Macmillan & Co. 1905.  Ed. 2.

CLUTE, WILLARD N. Our Ferns in Their Haunts.  Frederick A. Stokes Co.  New
York, 1901.

Fern Collector’s Guide.  Frederick A. Stokes Co.  New York, 1902.

The Fern Allies.  Frederick A. Stokes Co.  New York, 1905.

The Fern Bulletin.  Founder and Editor. 20 vols. 1893-1912.

Combined with The American Botanist.  Joliet, Ill. 1912.

CONARD, HENRY S. Structure and History of Hayscented Fern.  Washington, 1908.

COOK, M.C.  Fern-book for Everybody.  E. Warne & Co.  London.

DAVENPORT, GEO. E. Catalog of Davenport Herbarium, Massachusetts Horticultural Society. 1879.  Numerous Monographs and Notes on New England ferns in Torrey Bulletin, Fern Bulletin, and Rhodora.  The following monographs are in single booklets by Massachusetts Horticultural Society.  Aspidium cristatum x marginale, Aspidium simulatum, Aspidium spinulosum and its Varieties, Botrychium ternatum and its Varieties, Notes on Botrychium simplex.