62 WORCESTER COUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. [1895. 



and run a wire from stake to stake, through the centre of the rows ; 

 and then as they came up, — the wire was eighteen inches or two feet 

 from the ground, — we would tie the Gladiolus to that. 



Mr. Pond. I have grown Cannas a great deal, and I think I 

 always have good luck with them. This winter I asked Mr. Hixon 

 if he wouldn't take my bulbs, and he took them and kept them, and 

 this spring he informed me that he had lost them. I think I have 

 discovered a way to keep my bulbs : I put them into my boiler-room 

 and there I got them thoroughly dry. I examine them occasionally 

 and they look as if they would come through nicely. 



In preparing the ground, I take a piece about twelve feet across, 

 in a circle, and put in about four barrels of night soil ; then in about 

 three weeks I set out my Cannas and water them every night, and 

 keep the water on them about as freely as Mr. Hixon does on his 

 Sweet Peas. I don't know but what I grow them about us large as 

 anyone. I think I showed Mr. Hixon my Cannas, and he can judge 

 if he ever saw any much larger. My Sweet Peas, I just dig a trench 

 and dig it down about six inches deep, and then take a spade and go 

 down about six inches more and loosen it up, and then I fill it up 

 most full of either some night soil or what comes out of a cesspool, 

 and then 1 work it together. I intend to do that in the fall. As to 

 picking, I am very particular ; one portion I pick one day and another 

 the next ; if I see a bud I pick it off. Keep them picked as close as 

 possible if you want a good many flowers. 



And my roses ; I have a large variety of very fine ones. I have 

 one bed twenty feet square. I make it as rich as possible, and last 

 sprmg I put on some of that which came out of the cesspool ; I think 

 I put eight barrels into that bed, and then I put on some manure. 

 In the spring, at the proper time, 1 cut them down to about a foot 

 from the ground, perhaps a little lower, and I have roses from June 

 to November. 



Mr. Draper. Our friend Pond must have a monopoly of Pond's 

 extract. 



There is a great deal of complaint from those that grow house 

 plants in the winter season. Some ladies make their plants look well 

 all tlirough the winter, and others have their plants look tired and 

 discouraged. I wish friend Blake would tell us how to get rid of the 

 insects. 



Mr. Blake. Mr. Chairman, — I don't know what the best way is 

 to grow plants. For the best plant on all occasions 1 recommend the 

 Begonia. These are only a few varieties that I happened to have in 

 bloom, but they are always in bloom. The best way to have a window 



