102 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



all the trade establishments cultivate specialties, as Roses, Carna- 

 tions, or Palms. Nearly all of our good all-around gardeners get 

 their training abroad, and it is well for any young man who can 

 get a chance to learn ffardening under such a man, cither on a 

 large private place or in a park, some of which in the larger cities, 

 I am glad to say, have now large ranges of glass where everything 

 is grown but vegetables, which is a very important branch and 

 concerning which I have a few words to say later on. Some of 

 our colleges have now facilities for teaching gardening. I wish 

 that all of the colleges would follow the example of Cornell, where 

 they have six greenhouses in which students may gain a practical 

 knowledge of plant growth, learn how to prepare soil and manure, 

 and have opportunity to gain a general knowledge of advanced 

 gardening. INIany of the colleges have now a course in forestry, 

 and I understand that young men getting diplomas, if otherwise 

 fitted, can readily procure employment at fair salaries. It seems 

 to me that the time is now ripe for all the leading colleges to build 

 ranges of glass and have courses in practical horticulture. Grad- 

 uates from these classes, and otherwise desirable, would have an 

 advantage over uneducated men in securing the best positions. 

 The recent establishment of classes in landscape gardening by 

 the Florists' Club of Boston is of great advantage to those near 

 enough to take advantage, and is an example for all similar institu- 

 tions everywhere to imitate. 



Important as is the subject of forestry, gardening is equally so. 

 We can see, on the part of American business men, a growing 

 disposition as soon as they are financially able, to establish gardens 

 for their use and enjoyment and as the most pleasant refuge from 

 our ail-too strenuous business life. 



To the gardener, who wants to improve himself, books are a 

 paramount necessity. The recorded wisdom of the ages is at your 

 service here. Nicholson's Dictionary of Gardening and Bailey's 

 Cyclopaedia of American Horticulture should be in the possession 

 of every gardener; they describe nearly every plant in cultivation 

 and their cultural notes are of very great value. I will not attempt 

 naming all the good books but cannot refrain from mentioning 

 Jenkins' Art of Propagation and Improvement of Cultivated 

 Plants; Professor Taft's Greenhouse Construction; Hunt's How 



