298 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



BUSSEY IxSTITUTIOIf OF HaRVAKD UNIVERSITY, 



Jamaica Plaix, Mass. 

 Dear Mr. Barker : 



Referring to yours of August 12 I would say I should be 

 pleased to give you a brief account of the greenhouse your Com- 

 mittee visited on the 21st of March, 1896. 



With a few exceptions, the house (which is sixty-five feet long 

 by twenty feet wide) contained nothing but hardy plants, which 

 were forced out of season. The house was an object lesson as to 

 what can be forced with little difficulty, the time taken for 

 bringing the various sorts into bloom varying from ten days to 

 ten weeks. Our method is to store all the material that is to be 

 bloomed in cold pits and frames as soon as the frost appears 

 in autumn, and leave them there at any rate until the turn of the 

 year, January 1st, but more generally until February 1st. 



The plants are brought in by instalments, the time depend- 

 ing entirely upon how early or late the plants naturally bloom 

 out of doors. Por instance, Kalmia latifoUa, which here blooms 

 outdoors about the middle of June, must be brought into a 

 moderate heat about the first of January. On the other hand, 

 with Erica carnea, which is one of the earliest spring-blooming 

 shrubs, it is only necessary to allow about ten days at this sea- 

 son in order to bring it into bloom. 



It might be well to arrange the plants thus brought into bloom 

 in three classes, viz. : Shrubs, Herbaceous Plants, and Hardy 

 Bulbs. 



Amongst the Evergreen Shrubs the most satisfactory were : 



* Andromeda Jlor'dt Hilda. Erica carnea, in variety. 



" Japonica. Genista Germanica. 



'■'■ polifolia. *Kalmia glauca. 



* " speciosa. * '• latifolia. 

 Berheris Aquifoliuni. Ledum latifolium. 



^Daphne Cneoruni. Leucothoe Cateshad. 



* Rhododendron Catawhiense hyb., the tender sorts being the 

 most satisfactory for forcing. 



The Deciduous Shrubs that were forced are numerous, so I 

 will only mention the most satisfactory : 



