148 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



tlie most intfUlgont, practical, and experienced cultivators of fruits 

 and flowers on this continent, and if we have thus received much 

 from them, may we not hope tliat they, in turn, also have derived 

 something from us? Fruits and flowers have a common mother, 

 and possess like features at birth, and their close kinship is readily 

 recognized. It was truly gratifying to see how quicklj' and heartily 

 our horticultural and pomological associations claimed cousinship 

 and co-operated together. From this intercourse and exchange, 

 the seeds of knowledge must be widely scattered. Hence, other 

 fruits and other plants "and plantings may appear, born of the 

 spirit here engendered ; and other lawns, patterned or springing 

 from those seen here, may grace the waiting fields of the interior. 

 The benefits of such a visit will outlive even the pleasant memo- 

 ries it has left us. 



On Thursday morning, Sept. 11th, the Pomological Society, 

 accompanied by members of this committee, visited, by invitation, 



"The Hermitage" of William Gray, Jr., Esq. 



Here they were entertained most agreeabl}'', both within and 

 without his hospitable mansion. Of the place and its characteris- 

 tics no further description is needed. Our former reports have 

 already brought them to your notice. No material changes in plan 

 or treatment have been lately made, but everj'thing connected 

 therewith has ripened into beauty. Your committee afterwards 

 examined these grounds, pieparator^'^ to their report for the third 

 year thereon, and all the members unite in saying, that for neatness, 

 thoroughness, taste, and skill in culture and arrangement, and for 

 syste'Q and care in recording the facts, Mr. Gray has few, if any, 

 equals. His lawns were faultless, his roads and paths were 

 smooth and weedless, his masses of flowers and floral embroidery 

 were uniformly successful, and the whole effect was finer than on 

 any previous occasion. 



The experiment of leaving his Gold and Silver Hollies in the 

 ground through the winter, with only a loose covering of boards, 

 was tried with (loul)tful success; the leaves and branches having 

 suffered by the process. 



The flower beds, in various shapes, were in perfection. Tlie 

 masses of bloom were unltroken, and very conspicuous. Each 

 bed consisted of a single variety of plants, with appropriate 

 edgings, thus : — 



