November 5. 1910 



HORTICULTURE 



631 



SUNKEN GARDEN AT HARTFORD, 

 CONN. 



The "Sunken Garden," so-called, in 

 Elizabeth Park, Hartford, Conn., has 

 received many favorable comments by 

 visitors and seems to be generally 

 considered as an addition to the at- 

 tractions of this already much loved 

 public recreation ground. Elizabeth 

 Park was designed and constructed by 

 Mr. Theodore Wirth, for ten years 

 Superintendent of Parks in Hartford, 

 and will always keep bis name in 

 most kindly remembrance here. Since 

 it has been under my general care, 

 I have striven to do nothing that Mr. 

 Wirth himself would not have done, 

 or that was not in accordance with 

 his designs, unless the needs of the 

 people in using the park made it 

 necessary. 



The visitors to this Park have rap- 

 idly increased, and the space needed 

 for their accommodation had to be 

 added to. The Refectory, which was 

 formerly rented as a concession, was 

 last year and this run b'y the Park 

 Department directly, which added 

 largely to its patronage, and the 

 rooms and space assigned for this 

 work became inadequate. There was 

 neither the means nor opportunity to 

 add to the building and the "Sunken 

 Garden" was devised as a relief for 

 the pressure that had begun and was 

 anticipated in this service. 



Again the thought was to furnish 

 an opportunity where family parties 

 could bring their evening lunch as 

 a picnic, find table and seats wait- 

 ing for them, where hot water, if 

 they cared to brew their own tea, and 

 other ordinary conveniences could be 

 had witliout cost, and milk and the 

 simple accessories to such a meal 

 could be had at cost, so that a family 

 using the Sunken Garden as an out- 

 door dining room would find it no 

 more expensive than if they ate at 

 home. At the same time, the Park 

 would sell other things at the usual 

 retail price, which would give suflBci- 

 ent profit to pay for the service. This 

 was the motive which I believe justi- 



fied the changing of a very pretty 

 slope or valley into a "Sunken Gar- 

 den." It has not yet. however, been 

 worked out as planned, but in the end 

 I believe it will. 



The construction of the "Sunken 

 Garden" was very simple. The bot- 

 tom of the valley was about fifteen 

 feet below the upper surface. Nearly 

 level surfaces were extended from the 

 liottom of the valley until the amount 

 of the cut equalled the fill-back of 

 the terrace walls. Then the next ter- 

 race was constructed In a similar 

 way. care being taken to have the 

 alignment of the terrace pleasing and 

 the space between them proportion- 

 ate. 



The terraces themselves are sod- 

 walls two feet thick at the bottom 

 and fifteen inches at the top and 

 watered with a scries of drain tile 

 in the rear of the sod. 



The sod walls are symmetrical, 

 thirty-six feet wide at the top and 



bottom and eighteen feet wide in the 

 center. The steps are six-inch rise 

 and eighteen-inch tread. It would 

 have been much better if they had 

 been eight-inch rise and fifteen-inch 

 tread. The arbors were made from 

 waste material from the woods, ex- 

 cept the roofs. 



The Gardens are so well lighted 

 evenings that newspapers can be read 

 in the pergolas and summer houses. 



4.a viuL^ 



ROTTING OF CATTLEYA LABIATA 

 BUDS. 



Editor HORTICULTURE: 



In your last issue I noticed an item 

 about Cattleya labiata buds rotting. I 

 hardly think that the double sheaths 

 have anything to do with that. I 

 have occasionally very strong growths 

 that produce triple sheaths, but I have 

 never seen them rot. Some or all of 

 the buds are liable to dry up if the 

 plant is not strong enough to support 

 them, but if they rot then the plant 

 evidently has been checked. A sudden 

 change from very dry to very wet just 

 at the time the buds begin to push up 

 is liable to be the cause of it also; at 

 least that is my experience with Cat- 

 tleya Trianae. The lodging of water 

 in any part of the plant is injurious 

 only if the temperature is low or the 

 air becomes stagnant. 



A. J. PAULS. 



THE AZALEA SUPPLY. 



Florists' forcing azaleas are an In- 

 creasingly scarce commodity. Some of 

 the leading Belgian sources of supply 

 are practically cleaned out and are 

 unable to fill orders already accepted. 

 Many buyers are forced to accept a 

 partial filling of their orders only and 

 the present is no time to be over- 

 particular about varieties. Indeed, 

 there is no prospect of a freer supply 

 in the immediate future and higher 

 prices may be confidently predicted for 

 next year. 



