124 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



beautiful in form, but are apt to produce an appearance of 

 heaviness, and require slender leaves among them. He had seen 

 very fine effects produced by beauty of form alone, without variety 

 of color. 



C. M. Atkinson thought that the plants mentioned by Mr. Fuller 

 belonged rather to carpet gardening than to subtropical. A very 

 handsome garden can be made of the plants mentioned by Mr. 

 Gray with a very moderate expense for winter protection. In 

 every garden the surroundings should be considered, and carpet 

 gardening should be in a place by itself, backed up by larger 

 plants. A plant omitted by Mr. Gray is the Himalaya bamboo, 

 which grows nine or ten feet high, and the slightest breeze has a 

 beautiful effect on it. In autumn it should be lifted and receive the 

 protection of a cool greenhouse, or when that is not available, a 

 shed will be sufficient in winter. 



JVIr. Strong agreed with Mr. Brigham, and would go a little 

 farther, objecting not only to belts, but to too frequent massing, 

 believing that masses as well as belts are liable to be carried to an 

 extreme, especially where the masses are regular and formal. He 

 alluded to the bed arranged by Mr. Fuller, and said that we lose 

 the effect of cannas when we surround them with tritomas. We 

 should allow plants to produce their true and natural effect, both 

 in our exhibitions and our gardens. 



Mr. Fuller said that in arranging our material we must bear in 

 mind the area which is to be planted. We cannot produce the 

 scenery mentioned by Mr. Brigham and Mr. Strong in a limited 

 extent, and must sometimes depend on our plants rather than our 

 landscape for pleasing. It is often necessary to raise beds slightly 

 in the centre in order to show the plants. He thought the Escli- 

 schoUzia, which is all sunshine, and which he recollected many 

 years ago, could sometimes be used with effect. 



Mr. Brigham said that where it was necessary to have lines he 

 would have them broken in some way. He thought that even a 

 mullein stalk or a thistle would have an agreeable effect in reliev- 

 ing the monotony of the lines in the Public Garden. Carpet 

 gardening is giving a surface to the ground ; in California there 

 is no natural grass sod as here, and the flowers previously men- 

 tioned by him, and even the Claytonia, form one. 



The Chairman said he believed the society's money had been 

 weir expended in encouraging the introduction of the many 



