April 25, 1894.] 



Garden and Forest. 



169 



iron brackets. They are bent at the eaves, carried straight down 

 and bolted rigidly to cast-iron posts which are set into exca- 

 vations in the ground, and about each of which a barrel of con- 

 crete is packed, so that practically they are set in a solid block of 

 stone. These rafters, which stand seven feet six inches apart, 

 are tied together by purlins of angle iron — that is, strips of iron 

 bent so as to form two sides of a parallelogram — which are 

 respectively one and a half inches by two inches wide. They 

 are bolted to the rafters to stiffen the frame and hold the cypress 

 sash-bars which are fastened to them by screws. In the house 

 which was completed last the sash-bars and glass extend beyond 

 the wall some four inches, like the eaves of a shingle-roof, off of 

 which the water runs freely, while the glass on the front 

 wall fits up closely under the glass of the roof. There is no 

 plate, no gutter, no supporting brackets and other woodwork 

 to decay or obstruct the light, so that the front bench is not 

 under a shadow as usual, but has full sunshine throughout. 

 In the place of the ordinary plate is a light strip of angle-iron 

 which ties the rafters together, and by means of which each 

 sash-bar is fastened to an upright supporting bar in the front 

 wall. In part of the house even this continuous strip of angle- 

 iron is dispensed with, and the glass itself is trusted to give 

 the necessary stiffness to this part of the structure. A light 

 gas-pipe post supports the long south rafter at its centre. 



The clear glass wall, which is thirty inches high in front, the 

 lack of all obstruction to the light at the eaves, the high roof, 

 and the general lightness of the frame-work all combine to 

 give a sense of all-outdoors and abundance of light and air that 

 I never experienced in any other building. Perfect air circu- 

 lation is secured by a double line of ventilators consisting of 

 thirty-inch sashes hung to the ridge, one on each side of the 

 roof. In this way the house can be aired, whichever way the 

 wind blows, without injurious draughts, and in the summer- 

 time, when both lines are open, the benches are never over- 

 heated. Another thing which struck me as a singularly happy 

 device was the construction of the benches. Upon iron posts 

 supporting iron cross-pieces long strips of iron, with a cross- 

 section like an inver'ed "T. are laid longitudinally, and far 

 enough apart to hold an ordinary brick. Common bricks are 

 placed on these supports to form the bottom of the bed, so 

 that there is nothing perishable about the bench except the 

 upright board on the edge, which can be replaced without any 

 trouble when it decays. The brick not only makes a cheap 

 and indestructible bottom, but they can be set close together 

 or a little way apart, as more or less drainage is required, 

 while their porous nature enables them to hold moisture, so 

 that they will be always damp. When the soil is removed they 

 can be turned over or cleaned off with perfect ease. 



I need not here enlarge upon the way in which the five 

 benches in each of these houses are arranged so as to secure 

 unobstructed sunshine and free air, and render the care of 

 them easy and convenient. The Roses themselves were the 

 best evidence that the houses furnished conditions in which 

 they delighted, and no one ever saw a more superb growth 

 than was shown by the long lines of Meteors, every plant with 

 thick dark green foliage almost to the- ground, and carrying 

 a crop of buds which gave promise of a limitless supply. Mr. 

 Pierson assured me that the plants would be in just as vigor- 

 ous bearing as they now are when he clears the benches 

 in June, scrubs everything out and fills the pores of the 

 yellow pine flooring and all the other woodwork with crude 

 oil. The first house was carrying its fourth crop, and 

 every piece of wood was apparently as sound as when the 

 house was first built. How the soil is renewed and new soil 

 restored to the benches ; how the exhaust steam from the 

 pump is utilized to mollify the temperature of the water ap- 

 plied to the plants; how fertilizers and insecticides are applied 

 in the cheapest and most convenient manner was explained by 

 Mr. Pierson in the essay to which I alluded in the beginning 

 of this letter, and most of the points are on record in vol. iv., 

 page 407, of Garden and Forest. 



Mr. Pierson begins to change his Roses early in the season, 

 and is about ready now to discard his old plants for new ones 

 in one house, and he will proceed with one after another until 

 the whole lot is renewed. For this purpose he begins to 

 propagate in January, and keeps on through April. Three 

 months after propagating, the plants fill three-and-a-half-inch 

 pots, and are ready to be transferred to the benches. He be- 

 lieves that Roses for winter cutting should be thoroughly 

 well established, and that those which are set on the benches 

 later than June do not give as good crops during the winter as 

 those that are set earlier. To meet the demands of his market, 

 however, he needs Roses all the year through, as he cuts from 

 2,000 to 7,000 buds a day, or rather more than a million a year. 

 Different markets, he finds, demand different varieties and dif- 



ferent qualities of Roses. Boston, for example, pays rather 

 more for the best Roses, although the market is limited, and 

 it could be glutted with the amount sent to New York. In 

 Boston the greatest demand is for Catherine Mermet and The 

 Bride, while New York selects American Beauty and other big 

 Roses. Meteor is the variety which is grown here in largest 

 quantity, and the firm has become famous for the quality of 

 these flowers. Next in order of quantity sold comes Kaiserin 

 Augusta, followed in order by Madame Testout, Bride and 

 Bridesmaid, with Perle des Jardins, Madame Cusin, Catherine 

 Mermet and Wooton in considerable numbers. This range of 

 houses is given up almost entirely to Roses, but some bulb- 

 forcing is done, one of the north side houses being devoted to 

 that purpose, and some 300,000 plants of Lily-of-the-valley are 

 flowered here annually. There is, too, a nursery for select trees 

 and shrubs on the Scarborough farm which is well worth de- 

 scribing, but I will not trespass on your space for this nor for 

 any detailed account of the interesting things in the original 

 Tarrytovvn plant, where I sawalotof Pandanus Veitchii colored 

 with remarkable uniformity, and many other specialties. 



Any account of a visit here would be inadequate, however, 

 without some mention of the Cannas with which Mr. Pierson's 

 name has been for some years identified, and which won for 

 him many well-deserved premiums at the World's Fair. In 

 the Tarrytovvn houses, where most of the early sorts and all 

 the promising new introductions are planted together, one has 

 an opportunity for study and comparison which cannot be 

 excelled in this country at least. Without mentioning the 

 well-known Madame Crozy, Mr. Pierson considers Count 

 Horace de Choiseul and President Carnot the best of the older 

 sorts, -although they have never attained the popularity of some 

 other varieties. The first of these is a dwarf plant, with large 

 flowers of a deep carmine, and President Carnot has chocolate- 

 maroon foliage, with good-sized heads of orange-scarlet 

 flowers. 



Of the plants which had become sufficiently abundant and 

 cheap to be sold in quantities last year, Alphonse Bouvier 

 takes the lead as the best all-round Canna for bedding. It 

 flowers early, freely and constantly, and its immense clusters 

 of bright crimson flowers are held clear above the foliage. 

 Paul Marquant bears very large flowers, which stand out sep- 

 arately on the truss and are of a distinct apricot or salmon 

 color. It does not grow so tall as Alphonse Bouvier, but is 

 better for the greenhouse. Captain P. De Suzzoni is the best 

 yellow-flowered bedding Canna. The flower is slightly mottled 

 with scarlet, but this does not detract from the purity of the yel- 

 low, as is the case with some varieties. 



Of the plants which have been introduced for a year or two, 

 but which are offered now for the first time at popular prices, 

 Charles Henderson is distinguished for its good habit, large 

 flowers, and solid crimson color, with gold pencilings in the 

 throat. It is a counterpart of Madame Crozy, except in color, 

 with larger individual flowers and truss. Florence Vaughan 

 seems to have disappointed some purchasers because it was 

 not a true yellow, as they had supposed, but on the whole it is 

 an exceptionally fine Canna and the best of the spotted type, 

 being a lemon color spotted with bright red. The flower is 

 very large and so is the truss, and it has no superior in habit 

 or in robustness. 



Among the new introductions which are held at high prices 

 this year, Konigen Charlotte, which belongs to the Crozy type, 

 is perhaps the most distinct. It is a compact grower, and the 

 scarlet petals have a broad yellow margin, which differs essen- 

 tially from the narrow edging of Madame Crozy. These colors 

 do not blend together, but the line between them is sharply 

 marked, the yellow of the margin being intense and the scarlet 

 unusually brilliant. One hardly knows whether to say that the 

 petals are scarlet witha yellow margin, or yellow with a scarlet 

 centre. Germania is dwarfer than Madame Crozy, and much 

 like it, although the flower is larger and the edging narrower. 

 Sophie Buchner is another very promising variety. 



Out of numerous yearly importations growers are satisfied if 

 one or two plants, really superior and good enough to keep, are 

 found. So far, the only American seedling which has attained 

 any great success has been the Star of 1S91, an elegant pot- 

 plant, and a mass of scarlet when it blooms, although its indi- 

 vidual flowers are not so attractive as those of Madame Crozy. 

 Many American growers are experimenting with new seed- 

 lings, and a fine one called Columbia, with a striking scarlet 

 flower, was exhibited at the World's Fair by Kramer, of Cedar 

 Rapids, Iowa. Mr. Pierson himself raised last year 500 plants, 

 not one of them being a chance seedling, but all carefully 

 crossed from what he considered the very best varieties. Of 

 those which I saw in bloom Sunshine was noteworthy. It has 

 immense apricot flowers, with a sheen on the petals like that 



