November ), 1893.] 



Garden and Forest. 



459 



A remarkably fine plant of what is known as Whales' Norway 

 Spruce, a pendulous-branched sport of the Norway Spruce 

 which originated many years ago near Boston, will interest 

 persons who care for trees of monstrous form. 



There are no remarkable specimens of Juniperus in the col- 

 lection, and the Cedars have all gone, although in a neighbor- 

 ing garden there is a good plant of the Lebanon variety. There 

 is a healthy little specimen of the western Mountain Hemlock, 

 Tsuga Pattoniana, a plant too rarely seen in our collections ; but 

 the Hemlock of the north-west coast, T. Mertensiana, has dis- 

 appeared. There is a fair, but not a remarkable, specimen of 

 the Japanese Sciadopitys, and large plants of the Japanese 

 Retinosporas (Chamsecyparis obtusa and C. pisifera), but none 

 of the juvenile or monstrous forms of these two trees have at- 

 tained any size or beauty. Of the two types, Mr. Hoopes con- 

 siders the latter the more rapid-growing and valuable tree. As 

 an ornamental tree, however, it is certainly less beautiful than 

 C. obtusa. 



The Torreyas, although representatives of the three species 

 were planted here, have disappeared, as have the Sequoias, 

 the Libocedrus and the Cryptomeria. The European Yew, in 

 many forms, holds its own, and so do its North American and 

 Japanese congeners. The last is a tree to be recommended 

 to American planters ; it is the hardiest of all the Yews, and 

 one of the most distinct and valuable of Conifers for the north- 

 ern states, where no other arborescent Yews will flourish. A 

 very distinct golden variety of Taxus Canadensis in the collec- 

 tion I had not seen before. 



Enough, perhaps, has been said to show the value of this 

 pinetum as an object-lesson to planters of coniferous trees, 

 who will find it one of the best places in America to study 

 these plants and to learn what to plant and what not to plant, 

 which is even more important ; and all American students 

 and lovers of trees certainly owe Mr. Hoopes a debt of grati- 

 tude for the means of acquiring much useful knowledge which 

 he has placed within their reach. 



This letter has already reached such a length that I can only 

 mention the fact that in the grounds surrounding the house 

 first built by Mr. Hoopes in West Chester is a good collection 

 of trees planted by him in 1854. Among them are the finest 

 specimen of Abies nobilis I have seen in the eastern states, a 

 perfectly healthy plant thirty or thirty-five feet tall ; large plants 

 of Picea orientalis, and remarkable specimens of the Chinese 

 Magnolia and of Magnolia Fraseri of our southern Alleghany 

 forests. 



Philadelphia, Pa. o. 



Sulphuric Acid and Water. 

 To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir, — I observe that the writer of Lawn Notes, in a recent 

 number of your journal, gives the advice, when making a dilu- 

 tion of sulphuric acid, to place the acid in the jar, and then add 

 the water. I have been taught differently. If water is poured 

 on sulphuric acid the first portion of it which strikes the acid 

 will boil and sputter, and some of the burning acid will be 

 thrown out of the jar. In diluting the acid pharmacists are 

 accustomed to add the acid very gradually to the water, with 

 constant stirring. Great heat is evolved during the operation, 

 and if the admixture is not made slowly the breaking of a glass 

 vessel might readily result. _ „ „, 



Somerville, Mass. L. C. Flamiagan. 



The Columbian Exposition. 

 Gardening about State and Government Buildings. 



THERE are four pieces of ornamental gardening at the Fair 

 which are distinctly unlike any other, and much superior 

 to them. They are all connected with individual buildings — 

 one with the State Building of Pennsylvania, another with that 

 of New York, a third with that of Massachusetts, and a fourth 

 with the Convent of La Rabida. These four garden pieces are 

 so unlike each other in effect that they cannot be compared. 

 They are all singularly well adapted to the general effect of the 

 buildings which they support. The Pennsylvania Building is 

 characterized by a freedom and hospitality of style which 

 seems to demand a warmth of cheer and welcome in the 

 planting. This color is well supplied by a bank of glowing 

 Madame Crozy Cannas which stand against the high front of 

 the sweeping porches. This planting has probably been the 

 best individual mass of color in the Fair. The most impor- 

 tant and novel lawn-piece about this building is a large bed of 

 mixed Crotons, from Mr. George Huster, of Girard College. 

 Mr. Huster seems to have the credit of introducing these 



plants into color-beds, and if the plants are short and stocky, 

 not exceeding one to three feet in height, and the colors are 

 well selected, they are capable of very satisfactory use. A few 

 good individual specimens of Pal.ms and Hibiscus complete 

 the essential features of this decoration, all of which is in 

 charge of Mr. Robert Craig. 



What the Pennsylvania Building gains by the profuse use of 

 color, the New York Building, which is its neigiibor, secures 

 by stove-plants. The architecture is formal and pretentious, 

 and any mere color-masses or lawn-beds would appear trivial 

 in the comparison. The foliage-effects are produced by tem- 

 porary plants massed into the angles about the steps and wings, 

 where they produce the same effects which the banks of Palms 

 or Bamboosor Pampas-plumes give to the supporting angles of 

 the terraces about the great buildings, especially in the vicinity 

 of the Court of Honor. The plants which are used with good 

 effect against the New York Building include Ficus variegata, 

 Araucarias, Crotons, Dracaenas, Box, Salix rosmarinifolia, and 

 various stove-plants. The entrance itself is re-enforced by ex- 

 cellent large tub specimens of Sweet Bay and various Palms ; 

 and upon either side the antique fountains and mosaic are 

 dressed with Papyrus, Aspidistras, Eichornia and Monstera. 

 About the corridors and porches are many good specimens of 

 Palms, comprising Areca Verschaffeltii, Seaforthia elegans. 

 Phoenix rupicola and P. reclinata and KentiaBelmoreana. The 

 roof parapets are adorned with Sweet Bays in antique vases. 

 Siebrecht & Wadley have charge of the embellishment of this 

 building. 



Next to the New York Building is the charming, home-like 

 building of Massachusetts, in the true colonial style, re-en- 

 forced with its terrace and esplanade. Here, again, is a dis- 

 tinct type of ornamentation. The terrace-wall at the confines 

 of the lot rises three or four feet high, and this is surmounted 

 by a fence about four feet tall, and the whole is covered with 

 a most profuse drapery of the interesting Japanese Hop, 

 sprinkled with the Scarlet-runner Bean and the Morning Glory. 

 The esplanade inside this wall is some fifty feet wide, of which 

 about ten feet upon the outer side is covered with a free bor- 

 der of shrubbery. In this shrubbery are Dogwoods and 

 Spiraeas in profusion, Lycium Chinense, Solanum'jasminoides, 

 Lilacs, Kerrias, Symphoricarpuses, Lonicera Morrowii, with 

 now and then a sprig of Wormwood or Dapline Cneorum. 

 Against the building is a mixed border of remarkable interest 

 and beauty, which contains many of the familiar flowers, with 

 masses of Sunfiowers against the windows. Among the plants 

 which give this border a home-like and native charm are Mari- 

 golds and Asters, Balsams, Funkias, Calendulas and Alyssum, 

 Wild Asters like Aster Novag-Anglise and A. Tradescanti, 

 Helenium autumnale and Hollyhocks. Excellent plants of the 

 western Helianthus orgyalis grow against the front porch, and 

 give it much spirit. Upon the west side of the building a ter- 

 race about ten feet wide has been brilliant with Paeonies, Cam- 

 panula Carpatica, "The Pearl" Achillea, Pyrethrum uligino- 

 sum, Golden Fleece Chrysanthemum, Bouncing Bet, Ragged 

 Robin, Eupatorium ageratoides, Zinnias, Coreopsis lanceolata, 

 Eulalias, and the like. The planting was designed by Wood- 

 ward Manning, and its immediate care is in the hands of Louis 

 Guerineau, a gardener of long experience. 



The ornamentation about the convent — which is made by 

 the landscape department of the Fair — is designed to repre- 

 sent the sodless vegetation of a hot and arid region. It abounds 

 in succulents like Sedums, Portulaccas, Mesenbryanthemums, 

 House-leeks and various stiff desert-like plants. Among the 

 more familiar plants one notices an abundance of Salvia splen- 

 dens, Bocconia cordata. Single Dahlias, Cinerarias, Petunias, 

 Ageratum, CEnotheras, Artemisia and various big Solanums. 

 The variety of vegetation, the superabundance of odd forms, 

 and the masses of burning color, all enforce the sunny feel- 

 ing of the place. The pretty court inside the building has a 

 centre of Phoenixes, with Bananas in the corners, and inter- 

 mediate plantings of dark-leaved Cannas, CobcL-as and Cala- 

 diums, and window pots and boxes of red Geraniums, English 

 Ivy and Lantanas. 



Other buildings have conspicuous ornamental features. The 

 great California Building is surrounded by a variety of inter- 

 esting sub-tropical plants, hut they are scattered about the 

 lawn with the evident purpose of showing them off, rather 

 than to make any garden-design to support the building. This 

 nursery includes many goodspecimens of Washingtonia fili- 

 fera. Phoenix Canariensis, Cliamierops excelsa and C. Nepau- 

 lensis and various interesting plants like Romneya Couiteri, 

 Wiegandia, Leucodendron argenteum, Loquat, Ervthea eduiis 

 and Tree Roses. The great Date Palm, grown' from seed 

 planted about 1770 by Fatlier Junipera Serra, in the Mission 

 Valley of San Diego, stands inside the building, rising to a 



