360 2'/te I^lowei' 'I'rade o/' A'ejy Turk. 



devoted to the smilax plant, and others to the camellias, carnation, ferns and miscel- 

 laneous flowers. This nursery has about two acres for bedding out the finer plants 

 only, the flowers of which are for the retail trade. From Mr. Seibrecht we learn 

 that the hyacinth bulbs arc nearly all imported from Holland, as the plant does not 

 thrive here, and the tubers run out in the course of four or five years. Great quan- 

 tities of these bulbs arc imported annually, and potting them for spring flowering forms 

 a large business with all nurserymen. 



Atnericati TJ.rotic and Satiitfic flrii-dfii Coitipany. 



The American Exotic and Botanic Garden Company, of Brooklyn, was or<^anized in 

 March, 1872, having for its object the formation of a winter garden, or a Crystal Palace, 

 for the exhibition of rare specimens of the " Flora of Nature." At present the 

 company are actively at work with their improvements, and are selling their surplus 

 flowers, which they produce, to the New York dealers. The grounds are situated 

 near the line of Bedford avenue and in the near neighborhood of Prospect Park. 

 The greenhouses and other improvements are all of the most substantial character, 

 and have been built with a view to utility as well as strength. 



Section No. 1 consists of a south house, .35x240 feet long, with a cellar containing 

 boiler-room and sections devoted to the raising of mushrooms. In this department 

 there is a well two hundred feet in depth, with an engine and pump which raises 

 water for the entire establishment. Connected with the south house are seven center 

 houses, each Io0x35 feet, which adjoin on the north a tropical fernery 240x9 feet. 



Section No. 2 contains the vinery, 240xo0 feet, which is arbored inside, and com- 

 pletely covered with running roses; and a front house with a circular glass roof and 

 interior balconies. This house is 240x20 feet, and is one of a series of houses which 

 is to extend around the whole plot. The finished building is to be 660 feet front, 

 with wings of 300 feet each. Sections Nos. 1 and 2 are heated by a powerful hot 

 water ap{)aratus (designed by Mr. Ogden P. Pell, the superintendent in charge), 

 through a line of four-inch pipe which measures four miles in length. The heat was 

 deficient during the first year, but since then improvements have been made in the 

 apparatus, and it does its work to the satisfaction of all concerned. Two boilers are 

 required to heat the water for these four miles of pipe, and one hundred and twenty- 

 five tons of coal are consumed during the season. 



During the present season the front or circular house is to be opened for the exhi- 

 bition of camellias only. Another house is to be devoted to roses, and so on to the 

 end of the chapter. In the center houses two lines of benches or tables have been 

 built for the culture of tender exotics. These tables are first made as nearly water- 

 tight as possible, after which they are coated with tar paint on the inside and then 

 filled with sand or mould, when they are ready for the plants. In one house there 

 are already several thousand cuttings of roses 'started. These are intended for the 

 spring sales. The rose stock already in flower, or to come into flower during the 

 early fall, amounts to about thirty thousand plants. The great majority of the rose 

 stock consists of the ten or twelve varieties of best sorts. Of carnations there are 

 upwards of ten thousand plants. Of the calla lily, the flower of which is so much 

 prized during the Easter season, the stock comprises three thousand plants ; and 



