156 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 



ranging in color from white to blue and deep purple. The arrange- 

 ment follows closely the real Japanese method, with a raised walk 

 around the margins, and with the usual accessories of lanterns 

 and other ornaments. In the adjoining grassland several low 

 tables with coverings of bright red blankets add to the oriental 

 aspect of the scene. It was a unique and interesting garden and 

 one that the committee takes especial pleasure in pointing to as 

 an example of what can be done in the artistic treatment of a 

 special class of flowering plants. 



Although the iris garden was the principal object of interest on 

 this occasion the visitors found many other objects that attracted 

 their attention in the fine collections of notable trees, shrubs, 

 and flowers on Dr. Kennedv's estate. 



Thomas E. Proctor's Estate at Topsfield. 



On July 1 1 the committee had the pleasure of visiting the notable 

 estate of Thomas E. Proctor at Topsfield, Massachusetts. It 

 comprises an area of some three thousand acres diversified by hills, 

 valleys, meadows, ponds, and native woodlands, and evidently 

 intended to contain at length a collection of hardy trees, shrubs, 

 and herbaceous plants that will make it one of the noteworthy 

 arboretums of the country. 



A great variety of trees and shrubs from all parts of the world 

 that will prove hardy here has been already planted and in addition 

 to this feature other lines of horticultural interest have not been 

 neglected. There are numerous greenhouses devoted to the cul- 

 ture of ornamental tropical plants, orchids, ferns, chrysanthemums, 

 etc., and also to the growing of many kinds of fruits, such as apples, 

 pears, peaches, nectarines, grapes, and oranges. 



On the grounds around the house are long lines of pergolas 

 covered with many varieties of climbing roses and trellises of 

 grapes of almost every known kind that promise to be hardy here. 



Then there is on another part of the estate a rockery that would 

 exhaust one's stock of adjectives to adequately describe. A 

 whole hillside rising from the border of a pond has been devoted 

 to this purpose and among the boulders of which it is formed and 



