64 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



to be appointed to represent the Board at the exliil)itions of the 

 Societ}' ; he made his report to the Board the day l)efore, and he 

 could not find hmgiiage to sa}' more in it than he did, and truth 

 would not allow him to say less. He regarded the Massaehusetts 

 Horticultural Society as the most important institution of the kind 

 in the country, and these meetings as the best source of informa- 

 tion on the subjects discussed. 



Mr. Jackson said his experience had been that it is easier to 

 hybridize species of gladioli than to cross the Gandavensis va- 

 rieties. He plants in rows a foot apart and six inches apart in the 

 row, four rows forming a bed, with a space of thirt}- inches between 

 the beds. He uses cow manure, but had found hen manure to give 

 a very vigorous growth. He had seen Mr. P^ndicott's rows, and 

 the}' were very straight, and the plants were tall, with magnificent 

 spikes. 



Mr. Spooner said that he had found hen manure apt to produce 

 warty roots on roses. The Richard Ca'ur de Lion and Mary 

 Stuart are admirable hybrid gladioli. 



Mr. Jackson had found no injurious results from hen manure, 

 but he would mix it with the soil more carefully than other ma- 

 nures. 



Mr. Moore said that hen manure agreed with his roses. 



John G. Barker said that if fifty or a hundred gladioli were 

 planted quite thickly in a bed, and the ground between carpeted 

 with mignonette or sweet alyssum, it would produce a very pleas- 

 ing effect, and for small gardens such an arrangement would be 

 preferable to coleuses, etc. Edward S. Hand, Jr. had excellent suc- 

 cess in cultivating gladioli at (Jlen Ridge, where the soil was quite 

 sandy ; he used plenty of decomposed barn-yard manure. He had 

 a row of Gandavensis varieties in the vine border, which were left 

 there when it was covered with manure in autunni, and when un- 

 covered they were found to be uninjured. 



Notice was given that the paper for the next Saturday woulil be on 

 " Bulbs and Tubers for Outdoor Culture," by Mrs. T. L. Nelson, 

 tile subject being i)artially a continuation of that of today. 



