220 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



heads and skirts of green, crowd to the drive-way, and back into 

 the recesses of the wood, beckoning for notice ; unconsciously 

 rivalling each other and their neighbors in magnetic power and 

 grace. These cover a large area and abound in other parts also, 

 showing about one hundred and eighty varieties ; and the Azaleas 

 seventy-five. Wherever thej^ may be, they repeat the one great 

 lesson of their growth, namely ; shade for foliage, sunshine for 

 flowers, and shelter for either. The buds which have set thickly 

 for another year, are not in the deep shade, but where the sun has 

 found them. Let this be remembered. 



Seldom can any gentleman make such an exhibition with his 

 own plants. But Mr. Ilunnewell, to whom the public are indebted 

 for the suggestion of a " Rhododendron Show, on Boston Com- 

 mon," in 1873, not content with that successful experiment, has 

 erected on his own grounds, the present year, a spacious skeleton 

 tent, in the midst of a hedged lawn, studded with like plants, and 

 filled it superbly with masses of blooms, of every shade, from 

 favorite sorts ; producing a magnificent display, quite as enjoyable 

 as the first. One could easily imagine that Flora, in her delight, 

 had waltzed around its centre, scattering her flowers on every 

 side, and had, finallj^, tossed all her light petals in the air, to ride 

 upon the tips of every shoot below. The show was, indeed, 

 excellent, and not unlike its predecessor on the Common ; and 

 yet the plants were scarcely missed from their old locations. 



Among the most admired, were Lady Godiva, 3Irs. Heneage, 

 Charles Dickens, II. II. Ilunnewell, Hannibal, Onsloiijianiim, Atro- 

 sanguineum, Brayanum, Kettledrum, Concessum, Album elegans, 

 Victoria, Lee's DarJc Purple, Titian, and Everestianum. 



Near the rhododendrons is the Rose Garden : a narrow parallel- 

 ogram, perhaps three hundred feet long, replete with choice vari- 

 eties, and surrounded by a solid hedge or wall of evergreen Arbor 

 Vitve, four or five yards high ; cut to a face, and as impenetrable 

 as those of the Vatican — this setting of the picture being of it- 

 self a great curiosity. Admission is had through a nicely arched 

 aperture at the end of a central walk dividing the roses. Here 

 they find protection, and in their season gladden the spirit and 

 furnish a gay escort to 



The Greenhouses and Flower Garden. 

 The greenhouses and forcing houses are very extensive, being 

 eleven in number, arranged on two sides of a hollow square, 



