15 



the old custom of an address at the Annual Show, which 

 was delivered by Rev. Henry Ward Beecher. 



The exhibitions through the season of 1858 were 

 held monthly, instead of weekly, as before. Hovey & 

 Co. exhibited at one time twenty-five varieties of sum- 

 mer pears, and, at another, one hundred and twenty-five 

 varieties of verbenas. At the Annual Exhibition this 

 year were seen the first indications of the taste for ferns 

 and lycopods, the beautiful forms of which are now 

 found in every green-house. 



In 1859 the Wilson's Albany strawberry was shown ; 

 the committee remarking that " the specimens did not, 

 on trial, commend themselves for their quality." Au- 

 gust 20, Hovey & Co. displayed a hundred and thirty 

 varieties of annuals, and, at the Annual Exhibition, the 

 first extensive collection of variegated-leaved plants, and 

 also of coniferous plants. Orchard-house culture was 

 gradually becoming more general. This year was the 

 last in the hall which had been the home of the society 

 for fifteen years ; the estate having been sold to Mr. 

 Parker. The weekly shows were kept up at Amory 

 Hall the next season with much interest. The hybrid 

 perpetual roses showed the results of increased atten- 

 tion. June 30, Oliver Bennet exhibited fifty Crawford's 

 Late peaches, some of which measured more than a foot 

 in circumference. The Clapp's Favorite pear was 

 shown for the first time. A special prize for Bartlett 

 pears at the Annual Exhibition brought out fifty-five 

 competitors. This year witnessed the culmination of 

 the great collections of pears, Marshall P. Wilder and 

 Hovey & Co., each exhibiting three hundred dishes, — a 

 larger number than has since been shown. The dahlia 

 was slowly going out of favor ; but at the Annual 

 Exhibition there were a " number of neat, pretty little 

 baskets of flowers, showing in what dainty contrasts 



