An. International Exhihifion of Horticultural Products. 265 



Mr. Rendlc has entered into a contract with the Board of Management for llio 

 construction of the hall, and will use his system of glazing without putty, a system 

 that has met with the greatest favor in En<rland, wliere Mr. Rendle's brothers are 

 ■owners of tiie patent. 



Tlie Horticultural Hall of tlie Exposition will he a most magnificent structure. 

 It is to be situated about GOO feet directly south of the main building, and almost 

 between that building and the levee. The center of the central hall will be just 

 over the large reservoir, or cistern, that has been in the park for a number of years, 

 and will be on the highest ground in the enclosure. In addition to being on an 

 eminence it is finely situated in regard to the avenues and chiniiis of trees in the 

 immediate vicinity, as one long avenue lends uj) to the central hall. Standing at 

 the entrance to this avenue the vista ended by this hall will be highly picturcs(iue. 

 The entire building will be (iOO feet long and 100 wide, except at the central hall, 

 which is made by a widening out of the Imildiug to 194 feet for a length of 100 feet. 

 Eising above this central hall is a tower which will be nearly ninety feet higii, and 

 M'hich, built of glass, will be the crowning glory to the structure. On eacii 

 side the construction is as follows: There is a wall of eleven feet almost full of 

 windows and ventilators; then there is a glass roof, which rises in a long slant, six- 

 teen feet; then a perpendicular line of ventilators six feet high, and a second glass 

 roof slanting at the same angle as the first, to a height of fourteen feet. The top 

 of this roof forms the apex to the entire building, except at the center, where the 

 tower rises about forty feet higher. This construction will, therefore, present to the 

 eye a vast expanse of shining glass, which, glistening in the sunlight, will produce 

 a gorgeous ell'ect. Indeed, in appearance the hall will not be unlike the famous 

 Crystal Palace at Sydenham, England, though, of course, it will not be so large. 

 It will, however, be the largest horticultural building on this continent, and, with 

 the extensive exhibit already in i)reparation for it, will make one of the most at- 

 tractive structures in America. 



The central hall is to be devoted to a display of rare plants and flowers, and here 

 will vie with one another in iridescent competition the flora of Florida, Mexico, 

 Central American countries and Louisiana. Besides the central hall one .section of 

 the building, occupying a space 250 feet long by twenty-five feet, will be used as a 

 tropical hot-house, in which the most delicate flowers of the far South can blossom in 

 their brilliant perfection. The space near the outer walls to a width of twenty-five 

 feet around the entire building will be devoted to plants and flowers, while the 

 center space will be used for the fruit display (except in the central liall as aliove 

 described), and will contain room for 20,000 plates of fruit. Thus there will l.c no 

 partition across the building, and the eye can traverse its entire length without in- 

 terruption. 



There are four chief entrances to the building, two large ones at the sides of the 

 central hall, and two at the ends of the structure. Those at the sides arc twenty- 

 five feet in width, and are made up of douljle doors and ornamentcil woodwork, 

 crowned with a Gothic portico. The ventilators and windows will be on the 

 Weatbcrel's simultaneous o(.ining gear process, by which fifty feet of ventilators 

 can be opened together l)y simply turning a wheel. Ail the heating an<l water ap- 

 jiaraluswill be on tlu' most uu. Icrn au<l scientific i>lans; everything will beadajited 



18 



