288 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



tuities were awarded. Financially the exhibition was 

 not successful. 



At the annual exhibition it was feared that, owing 

 to the severity of the winter and the drought of sum- 

 mer, the display would be greatly inferior to that of the 

 previous year. In a partial degree this was the result, 

 but not to any thing like the extent anticipated. The 

 injury to the gardens was much greater in Essex and 

 Norfolk Counties than in Middlesex. As instances of 

 the reduction in the fruit crop, we find that the collec- 

 tion of pears shown by Marshall P. Wilder comprised 

 two hundred varieties in 1848, and only thirty-three in 

 1849 ; and at Robert Manning's Pomological Garden in 

 Salem the destruction was so complete, that while two 

 hundred and sixty varieties of pears, and more than a 

 hundred of apples, were shown in 1848, not a single 

 specimen was sent in 1849. But though the number 

 of varieties shown was comparatively small, some of the 

 pears were superior to any ever before exhibited. The 

 apples were not only few in number, but generally of 

 inferior quality. A bunch of the Portien Noir grape, 

 weighing about four pounds, was shown by J. F. Allen. 



The dahlias had scarcely begun to bloom, and the 

 other flowers had been cut short by the dry weather ; so 

 that the display was much more meagre than usual ; but 

 the pot plants nearly made up for this deficiency, some 

 very fine specimens being exhibited, among which was 

 the Psidium Cattleyanum (guava) in fruit, from Ilovey 

 & Co. The show of vegetables was superior to any 

 ever before made, the variety being extensive, and the 

 specimens fine. 



At the special dahlia exhibition September 29, the 

 b]ooms were the finest ever seen in the Society's hall. 



