472 Massachusetts Horticultural Society. 



The Tvventy-F'ourth Annual Exhibition, September 21, 22, 23, 

 and 24. — The Annual Exhibition was held on Tnosday the 21st of Septem- 

 ber, at the Public Garden in Charles street. Tlie increasino^ number of 

 exhibitors, and the greater variety of fruits, rendered it impossible for the 

 Society to hold it in its hall in School street, and it was deemed advisable 

 to have it under a pavilion in the open air, in the same manner that the 

 London Horticultural Society has its exhibitions at Clnswick, in preference 

 to a large hall. The change has been a good one, both for the Society, the 

 accommodation of exhibitors, and the public. The place selected was the 

 Public Garden: and the mammoth pavilion of John Wright, measuring 200 

 feet long, and 100 feet wide, was engaged for the occasion. This was 

 fitted up Avith six rows of tables, measuring, in all, more than 1000 running 

 feet. The two outside rows, running parallel with the sides of the pavilion, 

 were three feet wide, and were devoted to flowers and vegetables. The four 

 other tables, forming semicircles on each side of the centre, were five feet 

 wide, and were devoted to fruit. The centre Avas fitted up with a handsome 

 stage, which was filled with the most beautiful plants ; and at each end of 

 the stage the circular stands of the Society were filled with the choicest 

 cut flowers, bouquets, &c. The sides of the pavilion were covered with 

 evergreen trees, and the poles sustaining the centre were beautifully 

 wreathed with evergreens and flowers. The whole forming one of the 

 most splendid scenes of tlie kind ever seen. The entrance was through a 

 well proportioned arch, handsomely wreathed with evergreen. 



As regards the fruit, it is almost impossible to do anything like justice to 

 the magnificent display. Never before were such specimens seen, or in 

 anything like the profusion. The total number of dishes, baskets, &c., 

 placed upon the tables, exceeded three thousand four hundred, many of 

 them containing a peck or more, each ; amounting, in all, to more than 

 100 bushels, about two-thirds of which were pears. We almost doubt wheth- 

 er a better season for pears will occur again for some time. The individual 

 specimens were superb. Beurre Diel, Duchesse, Beurre d'Anjou, Marie 

 Louise, Louise Bonne of Jersey, Doyenne Boussock, Swan's Orange, and 

 other large and showy pears, were shown in greater perfection than 

 we ever before saw there. We regret that our space will not allow us to 

 particularize many of the kinds which were especially prominent. Nearly 

 every exhibitor had one or more superior specimens. The greatest number 

 of named fruits came from Messrs. Hovey & Co., who showed 250 sorts of 

 pears, and 40 of apples, 10 of grapes, figs, &c. ; next came Mr. French, 

 with his great variety, 116 of apples, and 110 of pears, (90 unnamed;) 

 then Mr. Wilder, with 240 kinds of pears. The President of the Society, 

 Messrs. Walker, Manning, Stickney, and others, also had large and fine 

 collections of pears, and J. B. Moore, A. D. Williams, J. Eustis, J. Lovett, 

 and others, of apples. Peaches, plums and grapes were not abundant, nor 

 the specimens so good as usual ; this we attribute in part to the late season 

 of the exhibition, after many of the plums and pears were gone. 



Plants. — The display of plants was not very large, but the specimens 

 were many of them very beautiful. Time would not allow the collection 



