HERBACEOUS PLANTS VS. BEDDING PLANTS. 77 



be sorry to see the system which has made our parks so beautiful 

 wholl3' given up. 



John Robinson said that different persons look at the subject 

 under discussion from different stand-points. One has a large 

 estate and another a small city garden, and the latter will plant the 

 portion nearest to tlie street for beauty, without reference to cutting 

 flowers, and in the rear he will plant anj'thing that lie fancies, for 

 cutting or any other purpose. It is possible that most of those 

 who have spoken ma}' be right from their respective stand-points. 

 He does not himself like the crazy patchwork style. He had 

 recently seen near an old mansion a mound of Sempervivums, 

 etc., in the garden, which might as well have been artificial, and 

 the stiff bedding plants at the sides might have been likewise as 

 well made of tin. He did not object to a little border of bedding 

 plants, but to make the whole garden of them_is hideous. 



Mr. Beard regretted that no one seemed able to take the middle 

 ground, which he was aiming at. At such places as Mr. Hunne- 

 well's the gardeners can combine plants so as to make a beautiful 

 picture ; but in small places this cannot be done. The owner of a 

 small garden will get a florist to plant his lines ; but 3'ou can't cut 

 flowers from bedding Pyrethrums or Alternantheras or Coleus or 

 Achyranthes. His remarks were intended for the owners of small 

 grounds. He has only nine thousand square feet of land, but 

 with the aid of cold frames he can cut flowers from January to 

 January. Those who advocate the use of bedding plants in such 

 places desire the unattainable. He would not come here to plead 

 for bedding plants, but few have tried herbaceous plants. AVhat 

 is a bed of Coleus alongside of a bed of Carnations, that you can 

 cut and smell? Bedding will die of its own weight in small 

 gardens ; he would not abolish it in large parks, etc., if he could. 



A paper on " Old and New Roses," by Joseph H. Bourn, of 

 Providence, R.I., E^x-President of the Rhode Island Horticultural 

 Society, was announced for the next Saturday'. 



BUSINESS MEETING. 



Saturday, January 31, 1885. 

 An adjourned meeting of the Society was holden at 11 o'clock, 

 the President, John B. Mooke, in the chair. 



