August 



The Weekly Florists' Review, 



307 



A House of Palms at the Establishment of Mr. A. N. Pierson, Cromwell, Conn. 



beautiful avenues in the country, and I 

 don't know which is the more beautiful, 

 but' I think I like Delaware avenue the 

 best." That's about twenty years ago, 

 but I can remember every word, and so 

 I can the words of any man when they 

 are worth rememljering; but twaaule, am- 

 biguous jumble and a miserable attempt 

 at tine writing I can't commit to mem- 

 ory. 



Now, reader, don't think for a mo- 

 ment that we have not seen Common- 

 wealth avenue, Boston ; Prairie avenue, 

 Chicago, or the world-famous Fifth ave- 

 nue, New York. Perhaps there is as 

 much wealth and lavish expenditure in 

 one block of tlie latter as there is in 

 ••i mile of Delaware avenue, but we are 

 not discussing wealth — simply beauty. 

 Euclid avenue, Cleveland, has larger 

 mansions, more acreage to each residence, 

 but is disfigured by stone walls and 

 fences, and is not so continvious for any 

 length. Mow, Cleveland friends, don't 

 be down on me. You have a glorious 

 avenue, as well as a grand city. 



The description of this beautiful home 

 is poetical, but away off on facts. In- 

 stead of being ' ' a very large house, 

 built of red brick," it is a drab, or 

 terra cotta, brick, a very subdued tint 

 almost as far removed from red as the 

 green grass. The camera was evidently 

 much to the south or city side of the 

 house. If the artist (?) had wished to 

 give you an idea of this beautiful home 

 he could have had a beautiful view of a 

 long vista of lawn with but one simple 

 tropical bed, some small groups of 

 shrubbery, and in the distance an ivy- 

 covered barn, or stable, built of the 

 same material as the house, but so cov- 

 ered with ampelopsis that it is really 

 picturesque. There is nothing but the 

 branches of the elms on the avenue to 

 hide the front view of the house. 



"The unwarranted expense of placing 

 two tubs of laurels on the lawn ' ' was 

 not so extravagant after all, and the 

 proprietor can well afford it. They were 

 purchased some ten years ago, and with 

 good care and an occasional shift into 

 a larger tub are two grand specimens. 

 The little formality about them only en- 

 hances the beauty of the surrounding in- 

 formality, and with due respect to " C. 



B. W.," they are in the right place. 

 The only practical observation in the 

 whole article was that the tubs should 

 be sunk in the lawn. That is right. 



Now, as to the use and abuse of this 

 beautiful climber, Ampelopsis Veitchii, 

 it is a matter of taste. Boston was the 

 first city to plant it largely, hence the 

 name, Boston ivy, and I have thought 

 sometimes that it was used there to ex- 

 cess. It is never more beautiful than 

 when some fifteen or twenty feet in 

 height, sending out its young growth to' 

 graceful forms that no artist could imi- 

 tate. A house densely covered with it 

 is picturesque, provided the next house 

 has none of it. Too much of it is som- 

 bre. 



The information about its hardiness 

 and A. Engelmanni is strange news. We 

 don't know anything about Engelmanni, 

 but we are convinceil that " C. ^. W." 

 knows little about A. Veitchii. It is 

 hardy in Milwaukee and has no equal 

 where a vine is wanted to cover a wall 

 without support. Some fifteen years 

 ago they had an idea it was not hardy 

 in Toronto, and there was scarcely a 

 plant there. Now it is as common there as 

 their national thistle. It is hardy in any 

 city of the United States and will grow 

 on north, south, east or west aspect. As 

 for Celastrus scandens, it needs tying up 

 to support it and is most at home on 

 veranda pillars or a lattice-made arbor. 

 It belongs to a different class, and why 

 introduced into that classic article I 

 can 't see. I expected to get some valuable 

 hints on the shrubs, etc., to embellisli 

 lawns, but can not find them. 



Now, in conclusion, I would like to say 

 that the beauty of our Delaware avenue 

 is in its simple embellishment. A double 

 line of elms or maples borders each side 

 of the avenue outside the property line. 

 The lawns are dotted here and there 

 with trees. Few flower beds are seen 

 from the street, and few vases disfigure 

 the lawns; no fences and but few hedges, 

 and those very low. From the street to 

 the rear of the lots is well-kept lawn, 

 no dividing fence, wall or hedge between 

 neighbors. So it is a long strip of park 

 with residences dotted in. Not one resi- 

 dent in twenty ever called in the services 

 of a landscape gardener of the modern 



school. If he had, the street would 

 have been spoiled, for, instead of broad 

 expanse of lawn, restful and beautiful 

 to our senses, the lots would have been 

 cut up into roads, shrubbery ad libitum, 

 herbaceous borders and everything else 

 they could put in there for revenue only. 

 " C. B. W. ' ' might have made an in- 

 teresting article ; he terribly fell down. 

 Am very much surprised that ' ' C. B. 

 W. ' ' speaks about water spouts and light- 

 ning rods. Milwaukee has plenty of 

 spouts of all kinds, mostly used for some- 

 thing more nourishing than water, and 

 I am sorry that the fallacy of the light- 

 ning rod has not yet reached the city 

 ' ' that Schlitz made famous. ' ' 



Bison. 



PALM HOUSE AT A. N. PIERSON'S. 



We publish this week an illustration 

 of one of the palm houses in Plant No. 1 

 at A. N. Pierson 's, Cromwell, Conn. The 

 house measures 240x6.t feet, is built of 

 iron and is in every way up tO' date. 

 It holds about 6,000 Kentia Belmoreana, 

 in pots varying in size from four to ten 

 inches. This is tlie largest of twenty- 

 two houses devoted to palms and ferns. 

 Two large and very attractive houses 

 are filled entirely with Adiantum Farley- 

 ense, which is grown ])rincipally for the 

 New York market. This department has 

 been extended from year to year until 

 now it is one of the most important on 

 the place, and the sale of palms and 

 ferns has become very heavy. 



BOILER CAPACITY. 



1 have a new horizontal tubular boiler 

 having a heating surface of 600 square 

 feet. How many square feet of glass 

 surface will it heat to 60 degrees at 

 night? Houses in good condition, for 

 carnations, hillside location, protected 

 from north winds. J. L. M. 



Penna. 



Replying to J. L. M., the tubular boil- 

 er having about 600 feet of heating sur- 

 face, if well-proportioned, will readily 

 heat from 18,000 to 20,000 square feet 

 of glass to a temperature of 60 degrees 

 at night, provided one foot of radiating 

 surface is used to every three feet of 

 glass suface. Henry W. Gibbons. 



New York. 



