REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON PRIZES AND EXHIBITIONS, 1920 13 



Lectures and Publications: — Fred A. Wilson, Chairman, Thomas 

 Allen, John K. L. M. Farquhar, Charles S. Sargent. 



Children's Gardens: — James Wheeler, Chairman, Dr. Harris 

 Kennedy, Miss Eleanor W. Allen, Miss Marian R. 

 Case, Miss Louisa Hunnewell, Miss Margaret A. Rand. 



REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON PRIZES AND 

 EXHIBITIONS. 



By Thomas Allen, Chairman. 



The history of this Society is being written and recorded from 

 day to day and without encroaching upon the reports of other 

 committees it can be said that never before in the whole history 

 of the Society has an exhibition been staged comparable with the 

 great exhibition of orchids and spring-flowering plants held March 

 24-28, 1920. It can be said further that never before has such a 

 wonderful exhibition been seen anywhere. 



The great feature which occupied the entire floor of the lecture 

 hall was the exhibit of orchids by Albert C. Burrage. It was 

 arranged to simulate natural conditions; the epiphytal species, or 

 tree-growing orchids, attached to the bark of imitation tree trunks, 

 and the terrestrial species, those generally found on the ground, 

 displayed on moss-coAcred rocky banks. 



The exhibition was called the Boston Orchid Show, although as 

 a matter of fact prizes were offered in more than ninety different 

 classes of spring-flowering plants and every class was filled. 



The first impression — and it was one that lasted — was of 

 bewildering profusion. The halls were so filled with wonderful 

 things that there was little room left for the crowds of people who 

 came to see them. 



If the aphorism is true that " Flowers are most beautiful as seen 

 growing in their natural surroundings" then thp R. & J. Farquhar 

 Company's exhibit of Regal lilies and Kaempferi azaleas, plunged 

 in earth and backed with a screen of evergreens, must be consid- 



