Vnl III 82.00 A Year. 



Cents. ■^''- 54- 



FLOWER GARDENING IN THE CHICAGO PARKS. 



FLOWER OflRDENING IN CHICAGO. 



The accompanying engraving, shows a 

 part of the flower garden in Washington 

 Park, Chicago. The plants and beds in 

 this expanse are all in sight from an en- 

 circhng driveway, and visitors are at 

 liberty to walk among them on the well 

 grown turf that carpets the entire space, 

 a carpet at once pleasant to the eye and 

 agreeable to the foot. For here the 

 familiar "Keep off the Grass" is not seen. 

 Supt. Kanst says that a good lawn isnot 

 injured by being walked on unless pedes- 

 trians follow a regular route, thus tread- 

 ing a path. To obviate this he disposes 

 the beds so that visitors are attracted in 

 all directions, and not a trace of a path is 

 seen throughout this tract where thous- 

 ands of people wander at will all summer 

 long. 



These lawns are made by sowing four 

 bushels of seed to the acre about April 1, 

 the idea being to sow when the seed will 

 germinate and begin to make growth at 

 once. The mixture generally used is one- 



half Kentucky blue grass and one-half 

 red top, with 2 pounds of white clover to 

 the bushel, but this formula is varied to 

 suit conditions. If very quick results are 

 desired, as in places that will be parth' 

 shaded later in the season, then one-iburtii 

 rye g^ass is substituted for half of the 

 blue grass, again, if expenses must be kept 

 down, one third Kentucky blue grass and 

 two-thirds red top with or without the 

 clover, will in the end make as satisfac- 

 tory a lawn as the half and half mixture. 

 The final result of either of the above 

 combinations is a blue grass lawn, for the 

 vitality of this variety enablesittocrowd 

 out and outlive anything that is sown 

 with it. But, as this takes time, the 

 quick, strong growing rye grass and red 

 top serve to clothe the ground acceptably 

 while the blue grass is becoming estab- 

 lished. Sowing thickly is the strong point 

 made by the park authorities. Lawns 

 like the one shown in the engraving are 

 kept in condition during summer In- 

 liberal watering with automatic sprink- 



lers and by mowing once a week or once 

 in two weeks as the growth requires. 



In the immediate foreground of our 

 illustration are seen glimpses of .\merican 

 agaves and cannas that are in beds near 

 a sun-dial made of growing plants — ^a 

 piece proving so attractive that it is 

 protected from too close invasion by a 

 chain fence supported by iron posts. 

 The ribbon bed beyond it encloses a space 

 nearly 100 feet in diameter, and the loops 

 that encircle each vase are 18 feet across. 

 The ribbon varies in width from three 

 feet in the middle of each wide scallop to 

 eighteen inches at the point where the 

 band crosses to form the loops around 

 the vases, and the same width is con- 

 tinued for the loops themselves. This bed 

 is fdlcd entirely with ageratum Cope's 

 Pet grown from cuttings and planted out 

 from 2 and ,3-inch pots about May 20. 

 They begin to bloom after three weeks 

 and continue in bloom until frost cuts 

 them off. They are kept well watered, 

 and when they get ragged or grow too 



