REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON GARDENS. 335 



for market. "We follow the Chrysanthemums with Lilies and 

 Tomatoes. 



I have two Carnation hoiises ; one is one hundred feet by 

 twenty feet; the other is one hundred and fifty feet by twenty 

 feet, with about six thousand Carnations planted in them, which are 

 looking very well. I have one house one hundred feet by twenty 

 feet for Roses ; two small Fern houses ; also one house sixt}' feet by 

 ten feet for Violets and other plants ; and one house sixty by fif- 

 teen feet for miscellaneous stock ; in all a little over fourteen 

 thousand square feet of glass, which is heated by two Furman 

 boilers with hot water under pressure, partly overhead and the 

 rest under the benches, in one and one-half and two-inch pipes 

 The glass used is sixteen by twenty-four inches in most of the 

 houses. 



My soil is rather sandy ; just right for Carnations, but light for 

 Roses. 



I should be very much pleased to have you look over my place 

 any time you could make it convenient. 



Yours respectfully, 



Wm. Nicholson. 



BussEY Institution, Jamaica Plain. 



Dear Mr. Barker : — In answer to your inquiry as to the method 

 of culture of Chrysanthemums at the Bussey Institution, I would 

 say : The cuttings were struck from the middle of March to the 

 middle of May, and when rooted were potted in three-inch or four- 

 inch pots. In the early part of June they were planted out of 

 doors in the field, where the ground had been used for the same 

 purpose for a number of years, after being well manured in the 

 spring. Pinching was practised from time to time, up to the first 

 of August. About the middle of August they were lifted and 

 potted in their flowering pots — seven-inch to eleven-inch. The 

 soil was made fairly rich, being composed of equal parts of 

 rotted manure, sod, and sand, with a small portion of leaf mould, 

 and a small quantity of bone meal. The potting was of medium 

 firmness, experience teaching us that too firm potting for a Chrj's- 

 anthemum is not to be advocated. 



After potting the plants were placed in a frame-yard, where 

 they were sheltered from strong winds. Frequent sj^ringing was 

 practised on bright days, until the plants became established, it 



