of Rural Art and Taste. 



323 



judge of their quality. John Fillebrown 

 showed a wild grape with a remarkably large 

 and handsome cluster. Josiah Newhall, Miss 

 Lucy Bowditch, and Walker & Co., showed 

 good specimens of figs. A. J. Hillbourn, 

 Sicilian nuts (filberts), and John B. Moore, 

 Hornet raspberries. A dish of Orange pears 

 from a tree in Salem, 235 years old, attracted 

 much attention. This venerable tree Is 

 more than three feet in diameter and forty 

 feet high, and bore 8^ bushels last year and 

 3 bushels this year. Of pears, 527 dishes 

 were shown ; apples, 257 dishes, and of all 

 kinds of fruit, a total of about 1,000. 



The show of vegetables was so uniformly 

 good, that it is difficult to particularize. 

 Perhaps the most interesting collections were 

 the new varieties of potatoes, from B. K. 

 Bliss & Son, of New York, and E. S. Brow- 

 nell, of Essex Junction, Vt. Messrs. Bliss 

 exhibited the Snowflake and Alpha, the latter 

 said to be ten days earlier than Early Rose, 

 and also the Conqueror tomato, claimed to 

 be ten days earlier than any other. Mr. 

 Brownell exhibited Early Nonsuch, Eureka, 

 Brownell's Beauty (also specimens of the crop 

 of 1873) and Early Rose. Several kinds in 

 both these collections were exhibited for the 

 Whitcomb prize of $200, for the best seedling 

 potato, to be awarded four years hence. J. 

 J. H. Gregory exhibited a new squash which 

 he deems superior to the Marblehead, of light 

 greeu color mottled with white, and having a 

 very hard shell. 



The principal prizes for plants were : 1st, 

 to William Gray Jr., for the best twelve 

 greenhouse and stove plants, one of the best 

 grown collections in the hall, comprising Bo- 

 napartea juncea, B. gracilis, B. filifera, Yucca 

 aloifolia variegata, Dracaena arborea, Phenix 

 reclinata, Latania borbonica, Cocos plumosa, 

 Chamaedora elegantissima, Phormium tenax 

 var.,Chamferops excelsa, and Agave univittata; 

 2d prize for the same to Hovey & Co., whose 

 collection included a very fine specimen of 

 Dracaena Veitchii, fifteen feet high ; a Pan- 

 danus ornatus, extra fine; P. reflexus, a 

 splendid P. elegantissimus, a very fine 

 Chamaerops Fortunei, Cocos coronatus, etc. 



The 1st prize for specimen plant, not varie- 

 gated, was awarded to W. Gray Jr., for a 

 very fine Yucca recurva ; 2d, to Hovey & 

 Co., for Pandanus Vandermeerschi. For the 

 best specimen flowering plant to Mrs. T. W. 

 Ward, for Stigmaphyllon ciliatum ; 2d, to 

 Hovey & Co., for Allamanda Hendersonii. 



For the best six variegated leaved plants 

 to James Comley, for an unusually fine col- 

 lection, comprising Abutilon niveum variega- 

 tum, Dracaena Chelsoni, Croton Veitchii, C. 

 Weismannii, Phormium Colensoi var. and 

 DieflPenbachia Bausei ; 2d prize to Hovey & 

 Co. For the best specimen variegated plant 

 to F. L. Ames, for an unusually fine Cissus 

 discolor; 2d, to W. Gray Jr., for Phormium 

 Colensoi var. F. L. Ames and Hovey & Co. 

 received the 1st and 2d prizes respectively, 

 for Caladiums, both collections being very 

 fine. 



For the best twelve ferns, the prize was 

 awarded to William Edgar, gardener to Hon. 

 William Claflin, for Adiantum Farleyense, A. 

 cuneatum, A. formosum, A. concinnum, A. 

 amabile, Gleichenia Speluncae, Pteris serru- 

 lata major magnifica, Cyathea princeps, C. 

 regale, C. Schiedei, Gymnogramma Peruviana 

 argyrophylla and G. calomelanos ; 2d prize to 

 J. W. Merrill, for Adiantum scutum, Cibo- 

 tium Schiedei, Davallia ornata, Dicksonia 

 antarctica, Dictyogramma Japonica (new), 

 Gymnogramma Wettenhalliana, Lygodium 

 circinale (new), L. scandens, L. palmatum, 

 Notholaena rufa (new), Polypodium cuspida- 

 tum (new), and Pteris tricolor. Both these 

 collections were exceedingly beautiful. Mr. 

 Claflin's plants were larger, but Mr. Merrill's 

 included several new varieties. 



The 1st prize for six ferns was awarded to 

 Joseph Clark, gardener to Mrs. Ward, for a 

 very handsome plant of Lygodium scandens, 

 Adiantum trapeziforme, a magnificent plant, 

 three feet in diameter ; A. macrophyllum, a 

 peculiarly attractive species, having the young 

 fronds tipped' with reddish chocolate, etc. ; 

 2d prize to J. W. Merrill, for Nephrolepis 

 Yollingerianum, and other new and noticeable 

 kinds. 



For Lycopods, the 1st prize was awarded 



