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' MAT 6. 1915. 



The Florists^ Review 



17 



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X 



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Girpet Bedding in Front of Phipps G>n8ervatory» Schenley Park, Pittsburgh. 



oblong beds at the back are planted with 

 Geranium S. A. Nutt, and the cannas 

 are King Humbert. 



The building itself forms a part of 

 Phipps Conservatory and is known as 

 the Aquatic House. The central part of 

 the Aquatic House, surmounted by the 

 dome, is devoted to the growing of Vic- 

 toria regia and is usually referred to, 

 therefore, as the Victoria House. To 

 the right of the Victoria House is the 

 department known as the Nymphaea 

 House. 



The Victoria Boom. 



So we enter the building and find 

 ourselves at once in the Victoria House, 

 the room shown in the illustration. This 

 room is 52x53 and thirty-four feet high 

 in the center. The concrete tank con- 

 taining the Victoria regia is 36x45 feet 

 and is irregular in shape. On the mar- 

 gin of the tank are various tropical 

 plants, averaging in height from twelve 

 inches to ten feet and so arranged as to 

 present a natural tropical appearance. 

 Prominent among the larger plants are 

 Latania Borbonica, Areca lutescens, 

 Chinese bananas and Colocasia odo- 

 rata. These are planted from fifteen to 

 twenty feet apart, and between them 

 are placed miscellaneous low-growing 

 plants, such as crotons, curculigos, etc., 

 the object in mind being not to obstruct 

 the view of the victorias, which form 

 the main feature of the hou^e. On the 

 side benches are tropical plants in pots, 

 including pandanus and crotons in va- 

 riety. Among the pandanus, Pacificus is 

 the most prominent. 



There are two plants of Victoria 

 regia in the tank. Thev are growing in 

 boxes eight feet square and one foot 

 deep, with eight inches of water above 

 the crowns of the plants. The compost 

 consists of one part of well decomposed 

 Cow manure to four parts of soil, with 

 fifty pounds of bone flour and one bag of 

 pulverized sheep manure added to the 

 whole, and with two inches of cow 

 manure placed in the bottom of the 

 boxes. The seed was started January 

 15, 1914; the plants were set out May 23. 

 The tempei-ature of the water after 

 planting was 75 to 80 degrees. This tem- 

 perature was maintained by running hot 

 water into the tank, but the hot water 



was discontinued in the latter part of 

 July. The temperature of the house is 

 70 degrees at night. 



The leaves* of the victorias, August 

 23, when fully developed, averaged six 

 feet eight inches to seven feet in diam- 

 eter and they continued that size until 

 September 15. The rims also, since that 

 date, have averaged five and one-half to 

 six inches high. The plants blossomed 

 continually all summer and made such 

 rapid growth that from two to three 

 leaves had to be cut every week to make 

 room for the young ones. Had the tank 

 been twice as large, the plants would 

 have filled it. 



The Nymphaeas. 



From the Victoria House we pass into 

 the room at the right, already desig- 

 nated as the Nypiphaea House. It is 

 36x84 feet and twenty feet high. It 

 contains a tank which is 16x63 feet, ir- 



regular in shape and about eighteen 

 inches deep. In the tank are planted 

 sixteen nymphseas, in boxes two and 

 one-half feet square and one foot deep. 

 The varieties, says Foreman Jones, in- 

 clude two day-blooming sorts, Mrs. 0. 

 W. Ward and Pennsylvania, and three 

 night-blooming kinds, dentata, Deaniana 

 and rubra rosea. 



The margin of the nymphsea tank is 

 planted in about the same way as the 

 margin of the victoria tank. Among 

 the most prominent plants used on the 

 margin are the banana, or Musa zebrina; 

 the shell plant, or Alpinia nutans, and 

 large acalypbas and crotons in variety. 

 On the side benches may be seen the 

 sycamore of the Bible, or Ficus Syco- 

 morus, as well as a number of economic 

 plants, such as the nutmeg tree, or 

 Myristica fragrans; the allspice tree, or 

 Pimenta acris, and the vanilla bean 

 plant. 



View io Aquatic House, Schenley Park, Pittsburgh, Showing Victoria Regia. 



