REPORT 



OF THE 



COMMITTEE ON PLANTS AND FLOWEES, 



FOR THE YEAR 1890. 



By JOSEPH H. WOODFORD, Chairman. 



The year which is now approaching its close has been a 

 memorable one in the history of our Societ}'. The season has 

 been favorable for the development of both plants and flowers, 

 and our stated exhibitions have been crowded with the very best 

 specimens of these we have ever seen. 



The gardeners seem to have taken advantage of every known 

 method to improve and perfect the growth of their plants and 

 flowers, so that they have been enabled to exhibit them in their 

 most attractive forms and best conditions. 



The " Boston Dail}' Advertiser " of August 7, said : "The part 

 that flowers play in life today is a striking and creditable feature 

 of modern civilization. The result has not come about of its own 

 accord. It is due in a great measure to the energy of a compara- 

 tively few enthusiasts who have labored to extend the beneficent 

 influence of floral beauty. In this work there is no one agency 

 that can look back on a more honorable record than the Massa- 

 chusetts Horticultural Society. Its founding, its growth, and its 

 vicissitudes during the sixty odd years of its existence, cover 

 about all that is worth knowing of the history of horticulture." 

 It is a very pleasant thing to have the indorsement of so able and 

 so venerable a newspaper as the " Advertiser." 



One great stimulant with the gardeners this year to produce 

 superior cultivation, was the knowledge that the Society of Ameri- 



