REPORT OF THE HORTICULTURIST. 
INTRODUCTORY. 
Our first year’s work in the garden has had its embarrassments, ‘To 
the cold backward spring was added the difficulties incident to a hur- 
ried beginning, the large amount of labor required in establishing the 
garden on a permanent basis, and the diversions from the garden de- 
manded by other departments in fitting the Station for work. 
Of necessity the greater part of the seed used was purchased. Some 
of the varieties. proved to be mixed, others were not true to name, and 
a few failed entirely, owing doubtless in part to the heavy character of 
the soil and the cold wet weather of spring. The reputation of the 
seedsman did not prove a safe guide, for in some cases seeds from 
which most was expected turned out least reliable. 
Much care and labor have been necessary to keep weeds under sub- 
jection. The soil of the garden which had evidently been well fertil- 
ized in former years was so thoroughly impregnated with weed seeds 
that rigid and frequent cultivation has been a positive necessity. 
The extensive orchard of the Station, numbering more than eight 
hundred trees, was in sad need of pruning. This work was commenced 
March 20th and was prosecuted as rapidly as the weather and the pres- 
sure of other work would allow, one man being employed until April 
20th, when it was completed. 
The ground adjoining the lysimeter on the south and east was laid 
out and graded for a flower garden. ‘The soil was trenched to the 
depth of eighteen inches and mixed with barn-yard manure. The 
outside walks, four feet in width, were excavated to the same depth 
and filled in with stones gathered from the garden and adjacent fields, 
and leveled on the surface with sifted gravel. The area was then laid 
out into thirty-six rectangular beds, twenty-two feet long by five feet 
wide, separated by narrow walks, and a border on the south and east 
sides four feet wide. ‘These beds were planted with a variety of flower- 
ing plants, mostly annuals, and the greater part of them grew and 
blossomed beyond our expectations, forming a floral display that in- 
creased in brilliancy throughout the season. 
A wild garden has been started on the ground bordering the brook 
that passes through the farm. It is designed to secure here specimens 
of all the more attractive hardy wild plants that can be obtained. 
More than a hundred species have already been planted out, some of 
which are very interesting and beautiful. 
An assortment of small fruits has been put out, comprising two 
plants each of thirteen varieties of currants, five varieties of goose- 
berry, thirty-three of raspberry and six of blackberry, with fifty plants 
