196 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



men, cinerarias, azaleas, and acacias. The third and fourth sec- 

 tions were devoted chiefly to roses and carnations. The visitors 

 were favorably impressed by the beauty and masterly grouping 

 of the plants, — clear evidence of the ability of the head-gardener, 

 Mr. James Stuart. 



Spraying Demonstration by the Boston Park Depart- 

 ment. 



By invitation of Mr. John A. Pettigrew, Superintendent of the 

 Boston Park Department, the committee, on the afternoon of May 

 16th, attended a preliminary demonstration of power spraying 

 for the destruction of the gypsy and brown-tail moth caterpillars. 

 This demonstration took place in the Forest Hills Parkway. A 

 grove of the highest trees was chosen for the experiment, and over 

 the tops of these, some of them probably sixty feet high, spray was 

 easily thrown by means of a hose sprayer held by a man standing 

 on the ground. With the aid of ladders, an area of from seventy 

 to one hundred feet in diameter was readily drenched with spray. 

 Mr. Pettigrew thinks this promises to be a most effective method 

 for controlling the moth pests. Furthermore, he estimates that 

 forest lands adjoining roadways can be thoroughly sprayed at a 

 cost of about twenty dollars an -acre. A practical demonstration 

 on a much larger scale has since been held by the Massachusetts 

 Society for the Promotion of Agriculture in an infested area of ten 

 acres of dense woodland at the junction of Wyoming Avenue and 

 the Ravine Road in the Middlesex Fells region. 



Dr. C. S. Minot's Peony Garden, Milton. 



On June 15 the committee inspected the peony garden of 

 Dr. Charles S. Minot at Milton, which had been entered in 

 competition for the best garden of peonies, not commercial. 

 Dr. Minot had between 260 and 270 varieties under cultivation, 

 arranged in color areas or squares. Among the varieties in 

 bloom at the time of the committee's visit the following seemed 

 especially deserving of note : Triomphe de 1' Exposition de Lille, 



