REPORT 



OF THE 



COMMITTEE ON PLANTS AND FLOWERS, 



FOR THE YEAR 1886. 



By JOSEPH II. WOODFORD, Chairman. 



The exhibitions during the year about to close have been of un- 

 paralleled excellence. Competition has l)eeii stimulated by the 

 largely increased premiums, and a general interest, manifested by 

 both old and young members, to make our exhibitions worthy of 

 the name and reputation of the leading Horticultural Society in 

 this country has filled our halls to repletion on each exhibition 

 da}' with the choicest plants and flowers. Constant additions to 

 the list of competitors have made the arrangement of exhibitions 

 somewhat embarrassing to your Committee, inasmuch as it has 

 been difficult at times to know just how to apportion space for the 

 different exhibits. Yet working in harmony with the able Com- 

 mittee of Arrangements, we have incurred very few complaints of 

 even seeming injustice or partiality ; and it has been one of the 

 aims of your Committee to treat all with the utmost courtesy and 

 consideration, giving to each exhibitor, in the order of application, 

 the best space left unoccupied, for the display of plants or flowers. 



The Society is to be congratulated on the success of its prize 

 exhibitions, for never in its historj- has the quantity or quality of 

 the exhibits been ecjualled. If more space is not soon ac- 

 quired, your Committee, in conjunction with the Committee of Ar- 

 rangements, will be compelled to limit contributors at our great 

 exhibitions to allotments of space, which must be applied for 

 in advance. 



We are glad to be a])le to report such an enthusiasm in floricul- 



