210 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



hollyhocks. In front and along the border of the green sod for the entire 

 distance of 340 feet, a band of sweet alyssum, six inches wide, and another 

 of portulaca of the same width, have been continually in bloom. The 

 general effect of this garden has been a source of admiration to the pupils 

 and neighbors during the entire season. From this plot were exhibited 

 at the fall exhibition of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society on Sep- 

 tember 15. in Boston, a collection of 160 bottles containing different 

 varieties of annuals, biennials, and perennials. At the fall exhibition 

 of the Lynn Horticultural Society the Tracy School exhibit consisted 

 of a collection of 272 bottles with as many varieties and shades of the 

 common flowering annuals, biennials, and perennials. 



2. Two crescents. Within the curved portions of the border garden 

 are two crescents, 30 feet long, and in their widest portions, 6 feet wide. 

 These crescents have a border of green sod one foot in width. Within 

 this a border of ageratum and salmon colored geraniums. These crescents 

 being situated in the northeast and southeast corners of the yard have 

 given a very beautiful effect to the border garden, and to the yard in gen- 

 eral. 



3. A center piece. The center piece, so called, is situated in the center 

 of the school yard. It is 30 by 45 feet and in the shape of a rhombus, 

 or "diamond." It serves as the dividing line between the playground 

 of the boys and girls. In the oval center of this rhombus is a bed of cannas. 

 Deep red geraniums surround the oval. The bed is tipped with silver- 

 leafed geraniums. This has been the beauty spot of the whole yard 

 during the entire season. This also has a border of green sod one foot in 

 width. 



4. A semicircle. — At the southern end of the school building is a 

 semicircle grass-plot, 50 feet in diameter, bordering on the Walnut street 

 side of the yard and having a Japanese barberry hedge along the street 

 border. In the center of this semicircle is an oval flower-plot, set with 

 a border of ageratum and within a bedded mass of salmon color geraniums. 



5. On the southern end of the school building climb four Boston ivies, 

 planted by the four highest classes of the school. 



Material. 



The soil was furnished, !by the city; or, in other words, it was reclaimed 

 from the additional lot of land used for the yard extension. Upwards 

 of one hundred cubic yards were thus reclaimed. The fertilizing substance 

 was solicited by the boys from a neighbor and wheeled to the school 

 grounds in wheelbarrows, after having been removed from the stable 

 cellar. The sod was solicited by the boys and cut by them a mile from 

 the school building. The shrubs were bought with money raised through 

 an entertainment given by the pupils of the school. The seeds were 

 bought with money contributed by the teachers. Plants of various kinds 

 were sent in Vjy the neighbors. Tools were contriV)uted by a friend of 

 school gardens, etc. 



