48 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



supposed was nothing but a weed. He adds it to his garden. These ben- 

 efits of a botanic garden are not yet fully appreciated, though ours is a 

 favorite place for young students from neighboring schools. Until seen 

 in their prime, no one can imagine the different shades of color, the var- 

 ious forms in general outline and in detail, and the endless number of 

 positions assumed by stem, leaf, inflorescence, bud, and flower. 



No one learns so much from the garden as the person who selects, 

 arranges, and cares for the plants. He is both student and experimenter, 

 and the more he learns the better it will be for his pupils. At one time 

 he is nearly outwitted by the moles that undermine his favorites of the 

 dry, sandy knoll; at another it is the plant lice on the wild asters or 

 water lilies, the blister beetles coming in great swarms to strip the 

 lupines or coffee trees; or again it is the muskrats which devour the root- 

 stocks of the aquatics, or the striped squirrels which feast on the putty 

 root. June freshets decimate plants not accustomed to long inunda- 

 tions in time of growth. Among such spikenard, ginseng, adder's 

 tongue, burdock, dandelion, catnip, motherwort, wild lettuce, May-weed, 

 mallow, plantain, and many more. 



Some fifteen years ago plants of Marsilia quadrifoUa were introduced 

 into one of the ponds and soon spread all around it and sent forth long 

 stems into the water where it was two feet deep or more. For some fev/ 

 feet near the shore the surface of the water was covered with these beau- 

 tiful leaves. Then water snails, finding plenty of suitable food, multi- 

 plied and the Marsilia retreated to the shore in a few spots in the grass 

 awaiting better times. We still grew it well in the mud a few inches 

 above the water. Last winter the thick ice during a long cold two 

 months or more, killed the snails, as well as the fish, and this summer 

 the Marsilia has again invaded the water. Wild rice in like manner 

 was kept in check by the snails, but this year it grows in water two feet 

 or more in depth. 



When first excavated the ponds were supplied with water througli 

 pipes from a slow brook which was mainly fed by marshes. In this we 

 found no trouble in covering the water with Lemnas and in growing 

 certain other acquatics, such as Zygnema, Spirogyra, Oedogonium, Spiro- 

 choeta. After a few years a little sewage got into the pipes, and the last 

 four genera disappeared, while Oscillaria and Elodea came in abundance. 

 For the past three years the ponds have been fed by the overflow of an 

 artesian well, and for the first time we have been able ^o grow Myrio- 

 phyllum and Chara and Potamogeton, while Eladea is retiring and no 

 Spirogyra can be found. 



To grow certain plants, the manager is constantly thwarted in his efforts 

 by drouth, excessive rains, cold, sunshine, shade, or by unsuitable soil, 

 and is constantly sent back to marsh, ravine, sand, loam, or clay bank to 

 study well the favorite spot for each species, and with each such effort a 

 few more plants are made to thrive in the garden. In this way we have 

 learned to grow well many ferns, hepaticas, cohosh, violets, some of the 

 mints, sedges, and grasses, while golden seal we grow to perfection, as 

 well as many others. We are still experimenting on Columbo, dwarf 

 thistle, harbinger of spring, some gentians, Houstonia, and many more. 



Perhaps it was fifteen years ago that we received Solaniim tuherosum 

 from Harvard botanic garden. It is said to be a fresh arrival from Mex- 



