286 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



CHRYSANTHEMUMS. 



The interest in the cultivation of the Chrysanthemum seems 

 to be as general, and the growers as enthusiastic, as ever. Your 

 Committee feel justified in continuing these prizes for chrysan- 

 themums, especially as ornamental plants. We have thought that 

 each season has brought better and better plants, but there is no 

 room for doubt that the plants at Mrs. Cheney's and at Mr. Walter 

 Hunnewell's were the best your Committee have seen. 



Mrs. Benjamin P, Cheney's Chrysanthemums, South 



iSTATICK. 



We had two competitors for the best house of Chrysanthe- 

 mums, arranged for effect with other plants. Our first visit was 

 at Mrs. Benjamin P. Chenej^'s (John Barr, gardener). Here we 

 found a very choice lot of medium sized, well grown plants, forty- 

 two in number, and each one a perfect specimen. They were 

 propagated in January and shifted on to twelve-inch pots, and 

 grown under glass all summer, on side benches, until the latter 

 part of August, when they were moved to the house in which 

 they were flowered. Mr. Barr says that in growing specimens 

 one must try for varieties that are short-jointed, so as to be kept 

 compact, and must also look out for pleasing colors ; so we have 

 to go back and grow old varieties to get those points, as it is 

 usually hazardous to depend on the new. They take up a great 

 deal of room if you intend doing them well, and require a great 

 deal of air to keep the foliage ; but, as a whole, Mr. Barr says he 

 would rather grow a house of specimen bush plants than a house 

 of plants with single stems, and, on a private place, the propri- 

 etor enjoys them more. 



Mr. Barr further says that the great point in growing speci- 

 mens is to keep the soil sweet, and not overdose with fertilizers, 

 but give a little at a time and often. 



Mr. Barr's list includes the following varieties, and he says 

 that any of them will make nice plants with a little care : 



White. — Ivory, Theo, Mine. A. Planchon, Mrs. Heale, Silver 

 Cloud, Vernal Fall, Mrs. Robert Craig, Mutual Friend, Jennie 

 Williams. 



Yellow. — President Hyde, Gold Dust, Whilden, W. H. Lin- 

 coln, Mrs. Bishop, W. H. Rieman, Savannah, Georgiana Bramhall, 

 Primula, Jardin des Plantes, C. Chalfaut, Minerva. 



