C4 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



On two different occasions Mr. Allen exhibited a laige basket of May Duke 

 cherries that were very fine and very beautiful ; it was the largest quantity 

 and most attractive exhibition of forced cherries that had ever been made at 

 one time, and was the only one of this fruit through the season. There is no 

 reason to be given to account for the supposed falling off; very probably it 

 was accidental. It is not to be supposed that this mode of cultivation wilJ for 

 a long time, if ever, be very general ; and the raising of forced fruits, unless 

 it be to a limited extent of grapes, will most likely be confined to amateurs 

 und those who make of it an object of interest rather than of profit. 



In compensation for any deficiency in forced fruits, there were some very 

 interesting exhibitions of orchard house culture. Mr. Hubbard showed some 

 very fine peaches and other fruits, raised in this mode, and also some trees in 

 pots still in fruit. Some remarks concerning orchard house cultivation were 

 made in the Report of the Commiitee of 1859, and no additional observations 

 are felt to be now necessary ; like that of forced fruits, it will most probably 

 continue to be confined to those who make of cultivation an object of interest, 

 and who may in this way procure for themselves a supply of some kinds of 

 fruit, as peaches and plums, of which the enjoyment is otherwise exceedingly 

 precarious. The following extract from a private letter from a gentleman who 

 was one of the first to introduce orchard houses into this part of the country, 

 though he has modified the mode of constructing them, recommended by Mr. 

 Rivers, by the introduction of a strong heating apparatus, will show the advan- 

 tages of this method of culture. He says, ''My trees, peaches, nectarines 

 jiiid plums, mostly in fourteen-inch pots, set their fruit uniformly and well, 

 and ripened a large crop of well-grown specimens, — the peach trees averaging, 

 for full grown trees, forty or fifty, and the nectarines double that quantity. 

 We began to gather the fruit in July, and had it in the greatest abundance for 

 two months, witii a more moderate supply for a month longer." 



STRAWBERRIES. 



The crop of Strawberries promised Avell, but was seriously diminished by the 

 dry weather that occurred at the time of its ripening. Considering the advance 

 tliat has been made in various branches of Horticulture, the exhibitions of this 

 fruit has not shown the improvement that was reasonably to have been ex- 

 pected. In order to encourage its cultivation, and induce the exhibition of the 

 best specimens, two special premiums were placed at the disposition of the 

 Committee by the liberality of two members of the Society. This led to the 

 display of some very fine berries, by eight different competitors, of six different 

 varieties; among them the new kind, La Constante, and the old favorite, 

 Hovey's Seedling, were most conspicuous. The La Constante, introduced by 

 Messrs. Hovey, is a magnificent fruit, of great size and beauty, of a fine color, 

 and good quality. The Messrs H., who alone have cultivated it to any extent, 

 are of opinion that it is hardy, free from the objections that apply to most va- 

 rieties of this fruit, of foreign origin, and adapted to general cultivation. 



