308 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



mittee remarked that many of them could have been 

 improved had Dame Nature been consulted oftener by 

 the artists during their construction. 



The variety and excellence of the vegetables exceeded 

 that of any former exhibition. A very remarkable con- 

 tribution in this department was a collection of thirty- 

 two varieties of squashes from Rev. A. R. Pope, which 

 he had kept from mixture by carefully covering the 

 blossoms, and fertilizing them by hand. The only places 

 reported on by the Garden Committee were those of 

 Joseph Breck at Brighton, whose collection of hardy 

 herbaceous plants was particularly noted, and who re- 

 ceived the prize for the best flower garden ; and of Dr. 

 Nathan Durfee at Fall River, who received the prize 

 for the best fruit garden. 



The exhibition at the opening of the hall on the 1 7th 

 of May, 1856, was marked by a display of numerous 

 and finely grown pot plants. W. C. Strong exhibited 

 twenty-eight pots of fuchsias, and cut specimens mak- 

 ing up forty varieties, which are described as truly 

 magnificent, and forming such a display of this beau- 

 tiful flower as had been rarely seen. Edward S. Rand, 

 jun., exhibited Clematis lanuginosa, now known as a 

 parent of C. Jackmanni and other beautiful varieties, 

 but which had never been seen here before, and was 

 spoken of as by far the most showy of the tribe. On 

 the 21st of June, the prize day for roses, owing to the 

 lateness of the season the display was not great ; but 

 the pseonies were just in perfection, and the exhibition 

 was by far the finest ever seen in the room. A week 

 later, a splendid exhibition of roses and other flowers 

 was made from upwards of thirty contributors. July 5, 

 H. H. Hunnewell sent a dozen beautiful specimens of 



