18 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 



ferns of all kinds been brought together at one exhibition and never 

 before has so much effort on the part of the Society failed to attract 

 the public. As a collection of ferns by one exhibitor, that put up 

 by W. A. Manda of South Orange, N. J., was probably the largest 

 ever seen anywhere. It was as complete as possible. All the 

 types, from the stately tree ferns to the most diminutive Selagi- 

 nellas were included, down even to the reproduction of ferns by 

 spores. Ferns entered everywhere in all the groups and were the 

 dominating feature, but scarcely less so were orchids and hardly 

 anywhere have we seen so many rare and beautiful kinds. 



' November 2-6. The Chrysanthemum Show held on these 

 dates was the best we have had for years. True, it lacked speci- 

 men plants, once the feature, but this deficiency was made up by 

 groups of chrysanthemums arranged with other plants tastefully 

 set up by Loren D. Towle of Newton and Mrs. Homer Gage of 

 Shrewsbury. So nearly were they of equal decorative value that it 

 was difficult for the judges to decide. Hardly secondary to the 

 chrysanthemum displays were the groups of new hybrid begonias 

 shown by Thomas E. Proctor of Topsfield and Edwin S. Webster 

 of Chestnut Hill. 



It is fitting here to mention an old exhibitor of chrysanthemums, 

 James Nicol of Quincy, who has been showing cut blooms for more 

 than twenty years. He never failed to enter in the class for the 

 Henry A. Gane prizes. He grew the variety "Mrs. Jerome Jones" 

 exhibited at this exhibition for the last time and has since passed 

 away. 



In addition to the money awards as listed in the Schedule the 

 following special awards have been made by the committee: 



Gold Medal. 



April 6. Thomas Roland, rose garden. 



" " A. C. Burrage, group of orchids. 



" J. T. Butterworth, " " 



" A. N. Cooley, " " 



" " Charles Sander, Holm Lea azaleas. 



" " J. S. Ames, artistically arranged group of Kurume azaleas. 



" " S. J. Goddard, Carnation Laddie. 



" 23. A. C. Burrage, display of New England orchids. 

 May 28. " " " collection of Odontoglossums. 



