112 MASSACHUSETTS HOETICUT.TURAL SOCIETY. 



must necessarily be almost without flowers through the spring 

 months unless we have spring bulbs. None that I have mentioned 

 need be renewed or transplanted ever}' year, except Hyacinths, 

 which are best the first year, and gradually' deteriorate. In the 

 spring it is more pertinent to take up the subject of summer 

 flowers, and for this reason I shall confine myself to flowers that 

 come after spring bulbs have done blooming. Among the many 

 flowers worthy of cultivation it is difficult to select a few of which 

 to speak. I hope you will not think because I speak of particular 

 kinds that I consider them the most worth}' of cultivation ; I 

 mention them because I have grown them, and they are familiar to 

 me. There was a time, and not very long ago, when we could 

 have taken up the subject of familiar garden flowers and disposed 

 of it in half the time we can now. Times have changed, and 

 flowers have multiplied in number and species, until it would take 

 half a dozen papers like this to exhaust the subject, or even to 

 treat it fairly. Not only have we more known species, but each 

 is divided into almost countless varieties, so that it is simply 

 impossible to speak of more than a small portion of our cultivated 

 flowers in the short time allotted to this subject today ; therefore 

 I will talk of some flowers that grow in my garden. 



Roses have been so ably and exhaustively treated and discussed 

 by this Society that little remains to say of them. For every variety 

 of years ago there are hundreds now. In the old time people 

 never thought of improving the rose. Why should they? Had 

 not the rose been sung and praised from time immemorial? And 

 were not the same roses good enough for them ? I suppose it did 

 not enter into the minds of our forefathers that there could be an}' 

 improvement. The Damask was the rose among roses. The 

 Centifolia, or Cabbage, as it is commonly called, the old White 

 rose, and some other sorts were grown in all old gardens. Well 

 do I remember the rose bushes in our home garden, laden with 

 their wealth of fragrant blossoms, and the low red roses, which 

 were my beau-ideal in childhood. These old roses are like voices 

 of the past to aged people. Except as souvenirs, they have been 

 superseded by an entirely new class. 



Take the Lily. From a very few varieties, what an outgrowth 

 there is ! We have them from many countries. .There are seed- 

 lings, hybrids, and sports. As with all flowers, collectors are on 

 the lookout for new sorts every year. The lilies to which " Solo- 

 mon in all his glory " was not to be compared were probably 



