.Inly I'll, 1911 



HORTICULTURE 



135 



MINNEAPOLIS CIVIC CELEBRA- 

 TION. 



The city of Minneapolis has just 

 closed a colossal civic celebration in 

 which the formal completion of the 

 great public park project of uniting 

 the waters of Lake Calhoun with Lake 

 of the Isles was a central feature. The 

 affair, which extended over the period 

 of a week and upon which over $100,- 

 000 was expended for spectacular fea- 

 tures, was not designed to be wholly 

 entertaining but included much that 

 was educational and inspiring. 



From the beginning to the end every 

 feature was a success. Everything 

 was executed with a completeness that 

 tin' words "well done" could be asso- 

 ciated with each and every event. All 

 the prominent streets were richly- 

 adorned with elaborate decorations 

 On about two miles of business and 

 one and one-half miles of residential 

 streets floral decorations, consisting 

 mainly of window boxes, were the chief 

 attraction. One of the best decorations 

 was that along the "Nicollet Court of 

 Honor." Upon entering this court one 

 was confronted by a continuous per- 

 spective of festooned green attached to 

 great white pilasters in line on either 

 side of the court. The windows of the 

 buildings were filled with flower boxes, 

 which in mass gave one the idea of a 

 vertical flower garden. The composi- 

 tion was unique and beautiful in the 

 daytime, and at night, being brilliant- 

 ly illuminated, compared with fairy- 

 land. 



We show in this connection pictures 

 depicting the type of window boxes 

 most widely used. It will be noted 

 that the make up is of plants of mod- 

 erate cost, easy care and good staying 

 qualities so that the show will be at- 



Windnw Boxes it Minneapolis. No. 2. 



tractive all through the summer and 

 people generally may be expected to 

 follow the example thus given of the 

 fine results obtainable from a trifling 

 expenditure. The contents of the 

 boxes are given as follows: 



The box shown in illustration No. 1 

 is six feet in length, one foot wide and 

 ten inches deep. It contains forty-two 

 plants, namely: Two each of Dracaena 

 indivisa, nasturtium, German ivy; four 

 each daisies, Vinca minor, coleus, Be- 

 gonia Vernon, sweet alyssum; eight 

 each "Howard's Star" petunia and S. 

 A. Nutt geranium. Illustration No. 2 

 shows boxes four feet in length each 

 containing two each of Dracaena in- 

 divisa. nasturtium and heliotrope: 

 three coleus, four each vinca and gera- 

 nium, six petunia and six lantana — 

 twenty-nine plants in all. The nastur- 

 tiums and other vines starting from 



the ground will soon reach and inter- 

 mingle with the box plants making 

 a very pleasing effect. 



Minneapolis, as already noted, has 

 the making of one of the finest park 

 systems in the world. Same consists 

 of 3400 acres of park land and 37 

 miles of boulevards, and is under the 

 management of that resourceful and 

 tireless man who has no superior in 

 his field of work, Theodore Wirtb, su- 

 perintendent. The boulevards at pres- 

 ent extend more than half-way around 

 the city and in the near future it is 

 planned to make them a concentric 

 feature, thus enabling one to reach 

 all of the large parks by way of the 

 boulevards. It is within these large 

 parks that some of the greatest events 

 of this Civic Celebration have taken 

 place. 



Window Boxes at Minneapolis. No. 1. 



THE EVOLUTION AND POLLINA- 

 TION OF SWEET PEAS. 



Dr. A. C. Beal before tlie National Sweet 

 Pea Society of America. 



Evolution. 

 During the first one hundred years 

 of the history of the sweet pea only 

 three varieties or colors were known, 

 viz . purple with blue wings, pale red 

 with white wings (Painted Lady), and 

 white. The black and scarlet appeared 

 in the last years of the eighteenth cen- 

 tury. It is quite probable that the 

 scarlet was very far from what we 

 conceive a scarlet sweet pea should be 

 I inlay. In Martyn's edition of Miller's 

 Gardener's Dictionary, 1807, we find 

 t be white, the Old Painted Lady, the 

 New Painted Lady, the latter with a 

 rose-colored standard and pale rose 

 wings, old Purple, and a variety hav- 

 ing a violet keel and wings and pur- 

 ple standard. Savers describe the scar- 

 lel sweet pea as Lathyrus More rosea, 

 while the Painted Lady is described 

 as "Fleshed" color. From this we 



