the AI 
garden. 
April, 
MASSACHUSETTS HOKTIODIiTUBAL SOOIETT. 
Special correspondence o/tiib wibMOAN gabdek. 
nie Spring Exhibition of the Massachu¬ 
setts Horticultiu'al Society, 
March 19th, and continued untii Friday t 
■20th, was without question the best ever 
held in Boston, and in fact in no other par 
of the country has such a varied and rare lo 
of spring flowers been gathered together ui 
one hall for exhibition. 
Outside, the temperature was continuously 
below freezing, and had it not been foi tliis 
fact, the hall would have failed to hold all the 
exhibits which were promised. About ten 
thousand persons ^^sited the show, and the 
crowd was so great that on several occasions 
admission was deuied to those in waiting un¬ 
til the hall could be cleared. 
At the entrance of the hall was a stand of 
forced Boses and Azaleas fi-om Mrs. Fi’ancls 
B. Hayes, the central specimen being Bhodo- 
dendron Veitchiamim Iwvigatum., uith great, 
fragrant flowers of the piu’est wliite. 
Among the Boses was a flue plant of Paul 
Heron, uith flowers of extraordinary size. 
Hext to this stand was a low platform 
flfty-flve feet long and six feet wide, with an 
elevated center devoted mainly to spring- 
flowering bulbs, the display of which was 
far superior to any ever made before, and 
next to the Orchids constituted the glory of 
the show. Hyacinths, Tulips, Narcissi, 
Jonquils, Crocuses, Anemone coronaria, 
Lilies of the VaUey, were shown in the 
flnest specimens of the newest varieties, and 
in bewildering profusion, like the most bril¬ 
liant bed in the flower garden tilled with the 
choicest selection of plants. Besides the 
bulbs there were graceful and delicate 
wreaths, fragrant Violets in pots, Primuhe 
and Pansies on the plants, far more attract¬ 
ive than the cut-flowers in flat dishes. 
The most notable Narcissus was the new 
“Sir ■\Vatkin," a gigantic form of vieompar- 
ahilis. This and Foetmis ornatus attracted 
much attention, together with the “Tenby 
Daflbdir' or -V. obmllaris. The latter is a 
compact and beautiful Narcissus. All were 
shown hy Edw. L. Beard, who also had a 
collection of Cyclamens, the flnest type ever 
shown, of compact habit, brilliant colors 
and bearing immense flowers. On this cen¬ 
ter platform were grouped not less than a 
thou.sand pots of eveiy conceivable form of 
spring flower, forming a sight to be long re¬ 
membered when once seen. 
At the end of the hall, grouped u|)on the 
platform with a backing of tall Palms, 
Ferns, etc., were the Orchid collections, em¬ 
bracing about one hundred (jlants, many of 
them unique s]>ecimens. F. ly. Ames of No. 
Easton exhibited OeMdrohiwn Airntwonhiii 
with over 1.50 Hower.s; Pli,o.lo;nopiiis Brgraer- 
ianurn; P. Slunri/iuna; CaUhija Arnei.hyUo- 
fjlosHa; JjendnMum Brymerianum; several 
magnificent plants of Odonloylonmm Ab-xaip- 
drm and PcmMlorKi, one of the latter bearing 
sixty flowers on one sjuke; JJnudrobium 
Wardianum (dhum, besides several huge 
plants of the type; Odonloylomurn iriurn- 
phane, with an unequalled spike of bloom, 
and many others of ran; tpiality anti large 
size. H. Jf. Hunnewell exhibited a 
plant of Coeloyynn crluala, GhntHworlh 
var., tliree feet a<;ross and a sheet 
of flowers; PhabmopeU SrMUeriunn, sev¬ 
eral extra good varieties of this being 
shown 
open 
!>“• '** "“'ll 
U, one plan noontocilossum In^- 
lemji; Calanthe 
aroUumWardwnn , 1 
besides uumbets 
of others. David 
I? M Pratt, exhibited about a 
.r 
most „ ,,l,,„t of 
oi?—■ ovoll-bloomca, and 
Fotm a.ul Will- Anti,on- 
urns, constituting a display rarely seen. 
A o-ratiCying feature of the exhibition was 
tho Socloty'o silver Modal to 
F. L. Harris, gardener to II. H. Hunnewell, 
David Allen, and AY. A. Bobinson, ffirc cner 
to F. L. Arnes, for Skilful Cultui-e of Oi-chuls. 
The Botanic Garden at Cambridge througli 
AY. A. Manda, its gar'dener, exhibited forried 
herbaceous plants, including LiHum tenuifo- 
Kmn, Primula Cortusoides, Trillium grandi- 
jloriim and Doronicum Caucasicum, the latter- 
very bright and showy. 
Jackson Dawson of the Ai-nold Ai-bore- 
tum showed flne and well-bloomed plants 
of Hybrid Perpetual Boses on the Japanese 
stock and an Interesting collection of hardy 
Primulas and Polyanthi in pots, besides 
forced Kalmia lalifolia. 
Jno. B. Moore took the first prize for 24 
cut blooms of Hybrid Pei-petual Boses, 
which were even finer than his magnificent 
.June flowers, which for thi-ee years have 
taken the challenge vase. A magnificent 
bloom of white Baroness took the first prize 
for single blooms. This promises to be a 
finer Bose than Merveille de Lyon. 
The Pansies in pots and also cut blooms 
from Denys Zirngeibel attracted much at¬ 
tention, the strain being one of the best in 
the country. Cut Carnations were hand¬ 
somely shown, J. A. Foster having a fine lot 
including seedlings, shown naturally with 
their foliage. Tea Boses and Hybiid Per¬ 
petual Boses were staged in great profu¬ 
sion, Delay and Meade taking a miniber of 
pi’izes for tender varieties. 
'J'he major poi tion of the jfi-izes for Hya¬ 
cinths were taken by C. lil. Ilovey, C. II. 
Hovoy & Co., and Jno. L. Gardner. The 
latter rejjrcsented by that veteran, C. jSI. 
Atkinson, took first prize for 12 with the 
following :-La tourd’Auvergne,T,auren.s Ko.s- 
ter. Princess Dagmar, Obelisfiue, ,Sir Jno. 
Laurence, Snow Ball, Cha.s. Dieken.s, Alba 
maxima, Argus, I/ineomparablc, La Grand- 
cs.se, Lzai- Peter. 'J'he lirst prize for six Hya¬ 
cinths wiis first awarded to E. I.. Beard, who 
w.as sub.scqiiently di.squalilied on aiaanint of 
duplicates, and then awankal to G. Af. 
Hove.y. 'I'he best single spike was Czar 
Peter, shown by G. H. Hovey & G„. 'pi,,, 
lirst prize for tlu; lamt (lisplay of liardy Nar¬ 
cissi was given to K. L. Beard, and the thr.-e 
prizes for b.«t general display of spring 
bulbs went respectively to G. j\| |i„vev 
G. IL Hovey & Go., and E. I. Beard.' ’ 
Last but not least were the Azabais, wh<>re 
e veteran Marshall P. Wilder ami Arthur 
. Bl,d(e a new eoiitribiitor, divided (he 
'OMors, Mr. Wilder filling a platform with 
fiiK! arge old spmdnums, and Mr. Blake 
contnbutmgaeolleetionofyoung plants of 
.. 
the 
beau was of most intense color. Had it not 
been for the intense cold, the display in this 
class would have been grand. 
Mr. Moore exliibited a plant of the new 
Hybrid Perpetual Kose, Col. Felix Breton. 
'This is the darkest Hose ever shown of good 
habit, promising well for frbedom of bloom 
and very fragrant. It was awarded a cer¬ 
tificate of merit. 
'These exhibitions have grown so, both as 
to the number of visitors and exhibitors, 
tliat the society finds its facilities severely 
taxed. An indication of this may be noted 
from tlie fact that more people visited the 
Spring Exhibition this year, than during the 
entire five years previous to 1883, with ex¬ 
ception of the year wlien the American 
Pomological Society held its session here. 
E. L. Beard. 
NEW OELEANS MEETING OP THE AMEEIOAN 
HOETIOULTUEAL SOCIETY, 
Aliiidfid of my promise to send a report 
of this meeting, for The American Gar¬ 
den, I must beg pardon for the delay. I 
have had so much to do and see, and being 
on the wing so much of the time, I have not 
been able to get at my notes and write them 
out. AYith this preface I get to business. 
From the scope of territory embraced in 
the membership of the society, and the 
topics and subjects treated, it was deemed 
advisable to change its name and give it a 
more expressive character. It will there¬ 
fore be known hereafter as 
THE AMERICAN HORTICULTURAL SOCIETT. 
It was thought by some present that this 
action might be construed as aiming to su¬ 
persede the mission of the American Porno- 
logical Societ}’-, but from what I could learn 
from those who are members of both organ- 
zations, such an idea has no existence in 
their minds, and they repudiate as unjust 
any insinuations of the kind. The field is 
broad and the harvest abundant for both or¬ 
ganizations, and they hope to work together, 
hand in hand, strengthening and encoiu-ag- 
ing each other. 
'The meetings continued eight days, and the 
subjects treated, together with the wide area 
of territorj' embracing the homes of the mem¬ 
bers, show conclusively the propriety of 
adoiiting a more significant and comprehen¬ 
sive name than the “ Aiississippi Valley." 
'The following programme as carried out 
will show the variety of subjects treated and 
the area of territory levied on. 
Fraternity in Horticulture, 5Io.; Associa¬ 
tion in Horticulture, Alieh.; Our Native 
Grapes, Ohio; Landscape Improvement of 
(.kumtry Homes, Ohio; Gross Fertilization, 
'rcmi.; Success and Failnre, AVis.; Our Pop¬ 
ular Fniits, N. J.; Hyhridizlng and Gross¬ 
ing, N. J.; Pruning and 'Training tlie ATiie, 
N. J.; Fungoid Di.seases of the Strawherry, 
Ills.; Horticulture in Givilr/.ation, Aliss.; 
The Native Grapes of the II. S., Tex.; 
incnclature of Bussiau Fruits, P. of QG 
InsiuJ. Notes of Interest to Fruit-growers, 
I). G.; Granberry Gulture, Gonn.; 'The Indig¬ 
enous I’otatoes of America, Gal.; Tropioai 
Horticulture, .lamaitai. 
'These, wm-e all treated hy the authors in 
person, and several other jiaiiers remained in 
the hands of tlie seenSary and will doidit- 
less appear In the fortiieoming report. 
From the above it would seem there were 
ahiindaiit reasons for the oliango; whothor « 
