EXHIBITIONS IN 1864. 337 



temperature, so that trees and plants exposed to it came 

 through without injury ; but the summer was extreme- 

 ly dry, and unfavorable to the growth and blooming of 

 plants, and consequently to the weekly exhibitions. 

 The crop of strawberries was much injured by the 

 drought, which was so severe that some fields were 

 burned up before half the fruit was ripened ; and in 

 some localities the grapes withered on the vines. The 

 pear crop was up to the average ; but that of other 

 fruits was smalL Vegetables were checked in then- 

 growth by the drought ; but the rains of July brought 

 them forward rapidly. 



At the opening exhibition on the 28th of May, we 

 notice, for the first time, the new variegated honey- 

 suckle from Japan (Lonicera aureo-reticulata), from 

 two exhibiters. The display of hardy azaleas and rho- 

 dodendrons a few weeks later, from H. H. Hunnewell 

 and Hovey & Co., was unusually fine. The same may be 

 said of the roses at the rose show on the 25th of June, 

 especially the Hybrid Perpetuals, the specimens of 

 which from Francis Parkman were very large and per- 

 fect. The shows of hardy herbaceous plants through 

 the season were very extensive, and comprised a great 

 variety, there having been added to the prizes for 

 spring herbaceous plants, offered in former years, 

 premiums for the best displays of named species and 

 varieties in July, August, and September. The gladi- 

 olus continued to be, in its season, the great feature 

 of the weekly exhibitions. The 27th of August was 

 prize day for this flower, when there was one of the 

 finest displays ever made, including, besides a large 

 number of prize stands, an immense number of seed- 

 lings, many of them of the greatest merit. 



