16 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTUKAL SOCIETY. 



last fully proved. "We have been permitted to welcome all our old 

 or regular contributors, with the addition of some new ones. 



Cyclamens. — There are but very few plants that will pay the 

 cultivator better for his^time and trouble than the cyclamen. As a 

 decorative plant for both the conservatory and the window it is one 

 of the most desirable, and as a florist's flower it is equally good, as 

 the flowers can be used to very great advantage, and with care 

 may be had from Christmas to May. The plants exhibited the past 

 season have been exceedingly good. The exhibitors were James 

 O'Brien and C. B. Gardiner. Particularly noticeable were the 

 superb specimens shown by Mr. Gardiner on the 3d of March. 

 The large plants which attracted so much attention were five years 

 old from the seed, the largest measuring eighteen and one-half 

 inches in circumference. Mr. Gardiner informs us that he has 

 picked from it in the seasons of 1875 and 1876 an average of three 

 hundred and eighteen blossoms, and it appears to have full as many 

 this season. Indeed aU the plants exhibited at this time were the 

 best ever shown, each one being a mass of beautiful foliage with 

 well shaped, richly colored flowers, and although aU were not quite 

 as large as the one mentioned, they must have had at least from one 

 hundred and fifty to two hundred blossoms on each plant. Mr. 

 Gardiner's mode of cultivation is to dry them ofi" entirely during 

 the summer and place them under the benches in the greenhouse. 

 The compost used is good garden soil, muck, and leaf mould, in 

 equal parts, with a little sand. Mr. Gardiner uses no liquid manure 

 of any kind and grows them in a temperature of from 40° to 50°. 



Camellias. — The only exhibitors were Hovey & Co., who on the 

 3d of March made a very fine display of named varieties, and 

 showed also a handsomely arranged basket of the beautiful seed- 

 lings of which mention was made in a previous report. 



Orchids. — Although not exhibited in as large numbers as in 

 some previous seasons, good plants have been shown by C. M. 

 Atkinson, of Phaius grancUfolius (Bletia TankervilUce) , which Mr. 

 WUliams in his ' ' Orchid Grower's Manual " describes as a noble 

 evergreen plant from China, growing three feet high, and producing 

 its flower spikes one or two feet above the foliage, the color of the 

 flowers being white and brown ; they bloom during the winter and 

 spring months, and last long in beauty if in a cool house. This is 

 a most useful plant for winter blooming, and, when well grown, a 

 noble plant for exhibition. 



