394 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



gates, by invitation of William Gray, jun., visited his 

 residence ; and, at the close of the afternoon session on 

 the same day, a larger party visited the beautiful estate 

 of H. H. Hunnewell at Wellesley. These places 

 offered peculiar attractions for a company of ladies and 

 gentlemen, many of whom were experienced horticultu- 

 rists and botanists, and at both they were hospitably 

 entertained. The usual meetings for discussing the 

 characters and cultivation of fruits were held during 

 the three days of the session, in Wesleyan Hall, and 

 the occasion closed with a grand banquet to the dele- 

 gates on Friday evening in Music Hall. 



The annual exhibition of plants and flowers by the 

 Horticultural Society was held at the same time with 

 the pomological gathering ; but, both the Society's halls 

 being filled with the fruit presented on that occasion, 

 Music Hall was secured for the floral display, which 

 proved to be the best ever made by the Society. The 

 hall was fitted with low platforms for the plants, and 

 these, being smaller than had previously been used, 

 afforded an excellent opportunity to display the plants, 

 so that not one was crowded out of sight. These plat- 

 forms were so arranged, like the beds in a garden, that, 

 when all was complete, the visitors might have fancied 

 themselves in a garden of tropical plants. Two tree 

 ferns from S. R. Pay son, Alsophila australis and A. ex- 

 celsa, from twelve to fifteen feet high, and the handsom- 

 est pair ever exhibited, occupied the centre of the hall, 

 and received the prize. Fifteen greenhouse plants exhib- 

 ited by Edward Butler, gardener at Wellesley College, 

 received the highest prize for a collection, and among 

 these none attracted more attention than a beautifully 

 trained plant of Lygodium scandens. The prizes for 



