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GARDENERS' CHRONICLE 



Great Exhibition of Wild Flowers and Ferns in Boston 



W. N. CRAIG 



AN exhibition of native orchids coni])leiel_v tilhni;' the 

 main hall of the Massachusetts Horticultural Soci- 

 ety and staged by Albert C. Barrage, president of 

 that society, attracted 23,0CO visitors in .May, 1921, and it 

 was felt that many years must elapse before such an at- 

 tendance would again be reached in Boston, but the great 

 show of native ferns and flowers which opened on May 3 

 and closed May 14 so far surpassed last year's show in 

 attendance that the 30,000 mark was passed on the fourth 

 day and as many people viewed it as at such extensive 

 and extended expositions as the Home Beautiful, auto- 

 mobile and food fairs. 



The setting for the show was an ideal one. L'rilicisnis 

 have often been heard of Horticultural Hall for exhibi- 

 tion purposes, some of which are true, but when all walls 

 are hidden as on this occasion, the height of the hall and 

 the cool temperature, many degrees lower than the open 

 air, and the freshness of the exhibits, a week after the 

 opening, all go to prove that some credit is still due the 

 design of the hall and the oft criticised building com- 

 mittee. 



The visitor enters the hall via the loggia through a 

 wide avenue of spruce trees reaching the ceiling, below 

 his feet are soft sand, gravel and pine needles, and at 

 once a "woody" odor assails his olfactoi-j' organs, tliat 

 '■piney smell" which so many tired city folks long to in- 

 hale for a week or two each Summer. 



At the entrance end of the hall and facing the loggia 

 is a delightful waterfall, not a tiny miniature affair, but 

 one of at least six feet breadth in the center of a rocky 

 promontory where sixty tons of rocks are effectively 

 placed, and over that from a height of some twenty- 

 four feet the water comes tumbling in a series of short 

 dips at first and a final drop of fifteen feet. Three hun- 

 dred gallons of water per minute pass over the falls, 

 which at night are especially beautiful with a greenish 

 light thrown fr')m overhead on them. The water falls 

 into a large pool and is carried by a stream to nearly 

 the opposite end of the hall when it disapjicars in a pipe, 

 flows back behind the rocks and is again jjumped over 

 the falls by an electric motor. 



The wooden floor of the hall was removed to allow 

 for the construction of the show and concrete beds were 

 laid for the streams and pools over which a neat rustic 

 bridge crosses near the falls. Bordering the stream are 

 irregular borders resembling swamps covered with green 

 spagnum moss, and planted here are large vacciniums in 

 flower, andromedas, osmunda and other ferns, Cypri- 

 pedium spectabile, habenarias, jiogonias and other or- 

 chids, Sarracenias, droseras, calthas and numbers of 

 moisture loving flowering plants, naturally planted. 



Around the sides of the hall and rising fifty feet in 

 height are mountains heavily clad with pines, hemlocks. 

 cedars, spruces and other evergreens, scattered through 

 which are found ihe white dogwood (cornus florida), 

 the shadbush fAmclanchier canadensis), the great laurel 

 (Rhododendron maximum), mountain laurel (Kalniia 

 latifolia), the sheep laurel (Kalmia angustifolia), Vibur- 

 num dentatum and other native shrubs and trees in 

 flower, while at lower elevations among crannies and 

 crevices, or on the sheer face of the moss covered rocks 

 are masses of all the ferns native to Massachusetts, forty- 

 seven in number, and near the base irregularly and taste- 

 fully placed are cypripediuins, mayflowers (l^jjigaca). 

 violas, asters, bluets, trilliums, hejjaticas, ranunculus, 

 anemones, bloodroots and numerous other wild flowers, 



some eighty-three varieties in all. I failed to see an 

 omnipresent friend, the dandelion and some others, prob- 

 ably because they are classed as aliens and not native, 

 albeit they make themselves very much at home here. 



The exit from the hall is through a dense avenue of 

 spruces and so great is the attendance that except in the 

 earliest morning hours a one way passage only is pos- 

 sible, and progress is naturally very slow. It is ])articu- 

 larly pleasing to note the i^reat delight of the thousands 

 of city children over the delightful show, and it is worth 

 a whole lot to watch their pleased faces, just as it is to 

 see and hear the remarks of older people, once country 

 dwellers, whose memories went back to the old country 

 farms where their early years were spent. At this show 

 they met many old familiar friends. 



The plants used in this show were all forced in the 

 greenhouses of Albert C. Burrage, of Beverly Farms, 

 and much credit is due his able superintendent, Douglas 

 Eccleston, and his corps of assistants for the skill in 

 timing the exhibits and the good taste shown on the con- 

 struction of the many charming features of the exhi- 

 bition. 



Illustrated lectures were given on New England wild 

 flowers, their cultivation and protection as follows by 

 the IMassaclnisetts Tiorticultural Society and at each there 

 was an attendance of between 400 and 500. 



Thursday, May 4. Some reasons why wild flowers are 

 rare, by Prof. Merritt L. Fernald. Howard University. 



Friday, May 5. The conservation of our wild flowers, 

 l>y Herbert W. Faulkner, Washington, Conn. 



Saturday, May 6. The cultivation of. native plants, by 

 Dr. R. T. Jackson, Petersborough, N. H. 



Monday. May 8. The naturalization of wild flowers, 

 hv Norman Tavlor, Brooklvn Botanic Gardens, Brook- 

 lyn. N. Y. 



At a meeting of the board of trustees of the Massachu- 

 setts Horticultural Society held May 8, the George Robert 

 White gold medal of honor for distinguished service ^ 

 rendered to horticulture in the vear 1922 was awarded 

 to Albert C. r)Urrage. ]Mr. Burrage is serving his second 

 term as president of the Massachusetts Horticultural 

 Society and also of the American Orchid Society. In 

 1920 he made a magnificent monthly exhibit of orchids 

 at Horticultural Hall, in 192! he staged the great show 

 of native orchids in Mav and was an extensive exhibitor 

 of ferns, Selaginellas and orchids at the great troi)ical 

 fern and orchid show in September, and last but not least 

 the present notable show nf wild flowers and ferns. Mr. 

 Burra.ge is a very aniialile niid democratic gentleman, 

 keenly interested in the ailvancciiieiil of horticulture and 

 the award is well merited. 



\t the meetin-..;- of the .\nierican ( )rchid .S(iciet\- held 

 in lioston on Mav 6, it ivas voted to hold a great national 

 orchid show in Boston in 1924. The Orchid Societv will 

 offer on this occasion special gold, silver and bronze 

 medais, and similar medals will also be offered through 

 other societies who carry orchid classes on their schedules. 



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