260 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



The third grand dahlia show took place on the 22d 

 and 23d of September, when upwards of a thousand 

 blooms were exhibited, besides the stands entered for 

 premiums. Though the weather had not been wholly 

 favorable, the exhibition was one of the best ever made 

 by the Society. A subscription dahlia show was held 

 on the day of the annual meeting, October 1, at which, 

 though some of the cultivators out of town could not 

 compete, owing to the destruction of their plants by 

 frost, the blooms that were shown were remarkably 

 fine, and some were superior to any ever before seen. 



The first exhibition of importance in 1843 was on the 

 13th of May, and by the liberal contributions and the 

 number of visitors, showed that the love of gardens and 

 flowers had not been chilled by the icy hand of winter. 

 We find, among other flowers exhibited a week later, 

 the Bon Silene rose, from John Fisk Allen, the first 

 mention we have seen of this variety now so generally 

 cultivated. June 10, the finest rhubarb ever exhibited 

 in the hall was brought by Messrs. Hovey. It was of 

 the Myatt's Victoria variety, and twelve stalks weighed 

 ten pounds. The show of strawberries on the 1st of 

 July was one of the best, if not the best of the season. 

 Hovey's Seedling surpassed all other varieties, the ber- 

 ries being from three to four inches in circumference. 

 The show of cherries on the 15th of July was considered 

 the finest ever made at the Society's rooms. July 29, a 

 beautiful plant of the new and elegant Achimenes 

 longiflora, with three or four large deep blue flowers 

 fully expanded, was exhibited. It came from the Pub- 

 lic Garden, and was pronounced one of the finest plants 

 that had been lately shown. September 2, Samuel 

 Sweetser exhibited Aloe mitrseformis. The seedling 



