276 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Early in 1846 several special awards were made, 

 which should be noticed here. The first was to Mar- 

 shall P. Wilder, for his seedling camellias, of which he 

 had exhibited five varieties, two of them being of sur- 

 passing beauty and perfection. For these two, which 

 were named Wilderi and Mrs. Abby Wilder, was 

 awarded a piece of plate of the value of fifty dollars. 

 Colored engravings of these camellias were published 

 in the Transactions of the Society for 1847. The 

 same award was made to Messrs. Hovey for the Hovey's 

 Seedling strawberry, of which the Fruit Committee said, 

 that, after a trial of twelve years, they knew of no 

 strawberry of superior merit. On recommendation of 

 the Committee on Flowers, the large gold medal of the 

 Society was awarded to Samuel Feast of Baltimore, 

 who, in the Queen of the Prairies, a -variety of Rosa 

 rubifolia produced by cross impregnation, had given a 

 type of a new class of roses. When the Society was 

 formed, the fruit department took precedence of all 

 others ; but the floral department grew rapidly in im- 

 portance, and we notice that this year, for the first time, 

 the appropriation for prizes for flowers was larger than 

 that for fruit. 



The exhibitions in the Society's hall commenced 

 with as much enthusiasm as in the previous year, and 

 were as well sustained through the season. Messrs. 

 Winship exhibited five bunches of asparagus cut. from 

 as many rows, each of which had received a different 

 fertilizer ; guano, nitrate of soda, salt, ashes, and horse 

 manure being used. That treated with guano, at the 

 rate of two-thirds of a peck to a row ninety feet in 

 length, was the best. Several growers who had at- 

 tempted the improvement of the strawberry exhibited 



