266 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 



ordinary gardens the same measure of success may be expected as 

 one would look for when planting the old Lilium tigrinum. 



After visiting the lilies the party was shown through the nursery 

 in which large numbers of the various species of plants collected 

 by Mr. Wilson are being tested. As the time was limited only a 

 casual glance could be given these, but among them three plants 

 were noticed which have been sufficiently tested to prove their 

 value. These were Ligustrum Prattii, Coioneaster horizontalis, 

 a fine wall plant, and Berberis verruculosa, a perfectly hardy little 

 barberry with foliage bronzy green above and silvery beneath. 

 As this latter plant never makes a large shrub it will become very 

 useful in many ways in landscape planting. 



B. Hammond Tracy's Gladiolus Farm at Wenham. 



August 15 the committee inspected the gladiolus plantations of B. 

 Hammond Tracy at Wenham, Massachusetts. The great devel- 

 opment of commercial horticulture in recent years is strikingly 

 illustrated here and to Mr. Tracy is due much of the credit of bring- 

 ing the gladiolus to the front rank of popular flowers. 



Mr. Tracy's estate, which is called Cedar x-Ycres, comprises an 

 area of twenty-seven acres, twenty of which are devoted to the 

 cultivation of gladioli on a commercial scale. In the height of the 

 season ten thousand spikes are cut daily and shipped to the florists 

 of Boston, New York, and even as far as Chicago. 



Of the thousand or more of named varieties grown here the vari- 

 ous shades of pink are in most demand and in this class the variety 

 Dawn is one of the handsomest. He has also large plantings of 

 seedlings among which he expects to produce some desirable and 

 valuable varieties. 



In his cultivation Mr, Tracy uses a ton of lime to the acre, and 

 also, when the plants are in bud, a liberal dressing of bone meal, 

 nitrate of soda, and sulphate of potash, in about equal parts. 

 The general character of the farm is gravelly but it is heavily 

 fertilized in the spring with barnyard dressing of which cow manure 

 forms a principal part. 



