Horticulture a Feature of Panama-Pacific Exposition 



By Waldemar H. F. N. de Bille. 



With flowering plants and rare trees and shrubs from 

 all parts of the world, a wonderful tropical garden is 

 being created on the site of the Panama-Pacific Interna- 

 tional Exposition at San Francisco. Where less than one 

 year ago existed but a half-sunken salt swamp and gen- 

 eral barren rubbish heap, the 025 acres of the Exposition 

 are now blooming with exotic i^lants and fragrant with 

 the scent of beautiful flowers. 



That the gardens will be the principal feature of the 

 Exposition is the belief of many of the world-tourists who 

 have visited the site and e.xpressed wonderment and ad- 

 miration at the ambitious plan of landscape engineering 

 which has been undertaken. While the marvelous palaces 

 of exceptional beauty will attract great attention and will 

 impress the casual visitor to a greater extent, to the 

 student who realizes that similar structures may be viewed 

 in all parts of the world, the "Garden of Eden," which 

 forms the setting, will be the center of interest. 



For the glory of the living gardens, the flowers, the 

 plants, the shrubs and great towering trees which will 

 i)ank the buildings, line the avenues and dot the inter- 

 spaces will bring one to some true conception of the 

 wonderful work which has liecu accomplished at the 

 E.xpositicjn. 



.\l'STR.\I.I.\X TREE FERNS TO .XDORN THE GRE.\T COURTS OF 

 TlIE EXPOSITION. 



The Exposition site was formerly a great basin of 

 water formed by a sea-wall running east and west 

 along the line of what is now the northern boundary 

 (if the grounds. When the site was finally accepted 

 and President C. C. Moore started the machinery oi 

 the great dredger, "John W. McMullen." on April 12, 

 l'M2, llu-re were seventv-one acres of water-cfn-cred 



land to be filled in and more than 3,100,000 cubic yards 

 of silt were hydraulicallj- pumped in from the bay. 

 This filling-in was completed not more than one 

 year ago. 



A combination of sand and salt-laden silt lay out- 

 stretched before the eyes dt the landscape engineers, 



IirC.E "I..\TII Tin;-SE." .\ REPOSITORY FOR PLANTS AND TREES 



FROM .ALL OVER THE WORLD, FROM WHERE THEY ARE 



TRANSPLANTED AFTER BECOMING ACCLIMATED. 



headed by John McLaren, wdien they were brought to 

 the site to make plans for planting of flowers and hedges 

 and trees. Such a combination would not grow even a 

 blade of grass, and it was for the engineers to devise 

 some plan by which the sand could be fertilized 

 properly. 



"There is but one solution," said Superintendent 

 John McLaren, and turning to his companion he con- 

 tinued: "Let us emulate the example set by Moham- 

 med and bring the mountain to us." 



Thus was conceived the most daring and absolutely 

 unprecedented plan of bringing 25,000 cubic yards of 

 soil from a point on the Sacramento River, 70 miles 

 awav, to the Exposition site. When Superintendent 

 J^lcLaren determinedly spoke of doing this, and whim- 

 sically recalled Mohammed's mountain, he was not 

 far wrong in simile, for 25,000 cubic yards of dirt jiiled 

 into a cube 100 feet square would rise one-half mile in- 

 to the air and its top would be far above the clouds. 

 In all reality, a mount of dirt! 



Immediately the engineer corps was called upon for 

 advice, and a set of plans drawn. Permission was 

 given by the United States Government to cut away 

 the banks of the Sacramento River at Collinsville, and 

 as the huge steam dredges removed the earth in great 

 bites it was loaded upon barges and towed to the Ex- 

 position grounds, and there spread by skilled workmen 

 over the entire site to a depth of from 6 to 8 inches. 



^^'hile the engineers were attending to this feature 

 of the work, Mr. McLaren, who is superintendent of 

 parks of San Francisco and creator of the famous 

 fiolden Gate Park, was busily engaged with a large 

 staff of landscape engineers in planning a veritable 

 troi)ical paradise. 



Horticulturists in all ])arts of the world were com- 

 municated with and asked to send their choicest speci- 



