loO MASSACHUSETTS llOUTK VLTUnAL SOCIETY. 



iiist of the narrow columns, and makes a clieck-mark in lliat column 

 against each plant then in flower. When other varieties bloom, 

 the next column is dated at the top, and checks ])ut against nil the 

 plants tJien in bloom; and so on with successive plants and succes- 

 sive dates, and new checks for all in hloom^ fiom time to time, and 

 at every time of examination during the whole season. Every 

 plant having its own line of checks, the number of these will show 

 at a glance which are the earliest or latest or most constant 

 bloomers, which are the most reliable, and whicli are worthless. 

 The record can thus be made in a few moments for every plant by 

 a simple check (with one or two dots for extra fine blooms), and 

 with great accuracy for comparison. 



This admirable system may have been ado})ted elsewhere; but, 

 being new to the writer, it may be so to others; and, if this notice 

 shall cause it to be more generally understood or adoi)ted, its de- 

 scription may not prove wholly unimportant. 



Much of this year's planting was sub-tropical; and in some cases 

 the cool nights bad slightly affected the plants. The tree-ferns, set 

 in pots in the ground, were extremely fine. The brown-colored 

 Alsophila Austral is (well named as a "love-grove"), and the J)ick- 

 sonia autarctica^ attracted much attention. The grandest show of 

 all, however, was a magnificent specimen of Pampas-Grass (Gi/ne- 

 rlura aryeiiteum)^ standing in the lower lawn, about twelve feet high 

 and ten feet wide, rising like a fountain, s])reading and curving to 

 the ground, and having fifty blooms- 

 Various other rare plants were scattered over the place; among 

 them the Musa ensete^ l^andanus utilis, Aralia iSieboldii (easily 

 j)ropagated from joint-cuttings), Aralia cajiescens, Arxindo donax 

 var.f the Cordyline indioisa, the India-rubber-tree (J^icus elaS' 

 tica), agaves, palms, hollies, yuccas, and the grandest of all the 

 pinaceous plants and most beautiful in their native habitat, — the 

 Araucarias iinbricata and excelsa, plunged in pots in May. 



Tlie Cunninffhamia sine7isis, also j)lunged in May, coarser and 

 less hardy, is considered inferior to the Araucarias. 



Of evergreens the collection w;is excellent. Here were the 

 ThuJ apsis borcalis, which liad stood two winters ; and llinjojms 

 dolohrata, oi ii\\\\ doubtful hardiness; the yew-like C'j>/i<do(((.nts 

 Jorttiiicij of China or Japan ; the Ccdrus Deodara and Cedrus 

 lAbani ; Cupressus Laiosoniana ; Thuja Lobbii ; T. plicata/ T. 

 llitjinitca ; lieti nospora ob( usd and 7^. aurca ; Abies orlentalis ,' A. 

 Jjoi/f/lassii, with vivid green leaves, solitary and flat ; Abies Men- 

 zitcii ; A. /Smithiana / A. inverta ; A. pyramidalis; and A. cle- 



