48 WORCESTER COUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. [1862. 



two contributors, and tibout two hundred and forty articles contributed. Still, 

 but for the commendable zeal of Messrs. Merrifield, Salisbury, and Grout — 

 whose united collections comprised about five-sixths of the whole, and whose 

 plants, some two hundred in all, added so very much to the attractions of the 

 Exhibition — the Floral Department would have been less interesting than it 

 used to be when the Society was in its infancy. Indeed, considering that the 

 season has been as favorable as one could wish for out-door cultivation, the dis- 

 play of Cut Flowers, Bouquets, &c., though excellent in the quality and taste- 

 ful arrangement of most of the articles, was, nevertheless, by no means so full 

 and rich as many visitors had anticipated that it would be. In the absence of 

 any apparent occasion for this deficiency, the Committee would be very reluc- 

 tant to believe that a taste for horticulture is gradually becoming less promi- 

 nent among the evidences of the high civilization of our favored section of the 

 country. 



No extensive decoration of the Hall was attempted, but the continuous 

 festoon of the beautiful indigenous evergreen — called the ground pine — sus- 

 pended from the cornice, and the wreaths and stars of the same material upon 

 the walls of the room, afforded to the weary eye a chaste and grateful relief, of 

 which the absence would have been severely felt. 



The contributors to this department, as copied from the Book of Entries for 

 Flowers, were Mrs. Eider, Mrs. Charles E. Brooks, lehabod Washburn, Mrs. 

 Edwin Morae, Mrs. M. H. Wheeler, Mrs. Edward Earle, Stephen Salisbury, 

 Jonathan Grout, Miss Fanny M. Lincoln, Miss Maria Fox, J. G. Warren, Miss 

 Fox, Mrs. J. C. Ripley. Mrs. J. Fawcett, William T. Merrifield, Mrs. J. H. 

 Winch, Arba Pierce, William xi. Wheeler, all of Worcester ; Mrs. S. D. Ward, 

 of Shrewsbury ; E. M. Howe, of Sterling, and Mrs. Jonas Brown, of Wilkin- 

 sonville. 



Of the three collections of Green House Plants, that of Mr. AVilliam T. 

 Merrifield — seventy-six plants, comprising seventy-five varieties — was a truly 

 magnificent exhibition. Among many other rare and valuable exotics, his 

 collection contained the Croton Pictum, Croton Yariegata, Hoya Picta, Pavetta 

 Borbonica, Ficus Elasticus (India Rubber plant), Sago Palm, Ananesia 

 Strieta, &c. 



Mr. Salisbury's collection— sixty-five plants — contained many of the same 

 that were in Mr. Merrifield's ; also, several superb Fuschias, Geraniums, Bego- 

 nias, four varieties of Caladium, the curious Pitcher plant, a plant of the 

 famous Sea Island Cotton, &c. 



Among the fifty-eight plants in pots, exhibited by Jonathan Grout, were 

 twenty-four varieties of Verbenas, nineteen Fuschias, six Begonias, &c. 



What few Cut Flowers were exhibited, were in general tastefully arranged, 

 although not always in accordance with that harmony of colors which is so 

 easily destroyed by the too near proximity of discordant, tints. There were 

 only one or two Bouquets, except those which received a premium. 



Two tastefully arranged Floral Designs, sent in by Mrs. S. D. Ward, of 

 Shrewsbury, representing the one an urn, the other a shield of the United 



