Massachusetts Horticultural Society. 231 



cate straw color, and very dark just at the base ; the flowers are about 

 twice the size of the common single althsea. It is a shrubby species, and 

 requires the heat of the stove to produce its truly superb blossoms in 

 perfection. — Conds. 



Cashmere Goats. — Mr. J. Donaldson Kinnear, of Albany, N. Y., has 

 lately received from his friends in France, a fine doe, which was sent, to- 

 gether with a buck, from Havre, in one of the regular packets to New 

 York. The length of the passage was, however, so great, that the latter 

 died. Ml'. Kinnear is in hopes of soon replacing his loss. These rare 

 animals were procured from the only flock in France, at a high price, 

 and are the first ever imported into the country. There is no doubt but 

 our climate is favorable to their increase, and we hope that the manu- 

 facture of the elegant Cashmere shawls will yet become as general as 

 that of silk is expected to be. — Conds. 



Gardenia radicans. — Can any of your readers inform me of the best 

 method of growing this plant ? The plants in my collection look yellow 

 and sickly, and rarely, if ever, show blossoms. — Yours, An Jlmat^ur. 



Art. IV. Massachusetts Horticultural Society. 



Saturday, May 7th, 1836. — This meeting was held upon business relating 

 to the Society. 



Read. A letter from M. A. Poiteau, of Paris. 



Presented. Pomonomie Beige, from Dr. J. B. Van Mons, of Lorraine, in 

 Belgium. A pamphlet on the Theory of Dr. Van Mons, one on Vegetable 

 Physiology, one on the culture " d'ananas," or the pine-apple, and the 

 Bon Jardinier for 1836. 



Distributed. Seeds received from China, and presented to the Society, 

 by Bryant P. Tilden, Esq., of Boston. 



The Pi'esident of the Society made some very pertinent remarks upon 

 the services which Dr. Van Mons and M. Poiteau, together with M. Sou- 

 lange Bodin, had rendered to the science of horticulture, and more par- 

 ticularly of the theory of Van Mons, of " ameliorating fruits by seed." 

 He stated that the Horticultural Society of Paris had recently offered a 

 premium of a thousand franks with a view of obtaining, by a repetition 

 of the expei-iments of Van Mons, or by any other process by seed, ame- 

 liorated varieties of pears and apples. He also suggested to the Society 

 the importance of similar exjjeriments by the horticulturists of this 

 country with the hope that new and very superior kinds of fruit might be 

 produced. 



May 14th. — Exhibited. Belmont apples, a very superior variety in beau- 

 ty and flavor, from C. H. Homstead, Cayuga county, Ohio. Originated 

 on the borders of Lake Erie. 



Distributed. Scions of the Belmont apple, from C. H. Homstead, Esq., 

 of Cayuga co., Ohio. 



