January 21, 1S91.] 



Garden and Forest. 



27 



placed in a bed in a warm 'greenhouse. I have caused in this 

 way the germination of Pear and Grape-seeds, nuts, Plum- 

 stones, Almonds, the seeds of the Coffee-tree, of Palms, Sugar 

 Beets, Peanuts, Fraxinella and other seeds of slow germina- 

 tion in half the time needed to secure the germination of the 

 same seeds sown in the ordinary condition. In the case of 

 Beets, Beans, Lupins, and other plants of the Pulse family, the 

 use of heated soil produces the most deplorable results on 

 account of the rapid development of the cotyledons, which re- 

 sults in the breaking and destruction of many embryos when 

 the seeds are treated in this way. For all such seeds it is 

 recommended to immerse them for six or eight hours in 

 slightly-heated water, which softens the coating of the seed 

 and facilitates the exit of the germ. 



There are certainly many additions to make to the examples 

 I have cited, my object being simply to indicate methods of 

 malting experiments through which, perhaps, results may be 

 reached which will be of use to future generations of garden- 

 ers. — J. B. Weber in the Revue Horticole. 



— Mr. Duncan has been much more successful than with the 

 exterior. The latter is not altogether pleasing in outline, and 

 its various parts seem to lack harmonious proportion and 

 unity, while the interior is harmonious, appropriate and im- 

 posing. But when he actually undertakes his task, Mr. Dun- 

 can will have time to study his exterior in a way that was 

 impossible before the competition, and the result will no doubt 

 be more satisfactory. 



Meanwhile, the chief interest for the readers of Garden and 

 Forest will be with the scheme in its entirety rather than with 

 the design of the monument as a work of architecture narrowly 

 so-called. The site where it will stand is one of the most 

 commanding which could be found near any city in the world, 

 and this is to say, of course, that especial care ought to be 

 given to its environment and approaches. To place a building, 

 however fine in itself, on this elevated bank, in the centre of a 

 noble driveway and close above a mighty river, and not to 

 give architectural accent to these surroundings, would be to 

 throw away an unrivaled opportunity. Even were the place 



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Fig. 5. — Gruund Plan of the Proposed Grant Monument, Riverside Drive. 



The Grant Monument for Riverside Park. 



'THE competitive designs for the monument to contain 

 -*■ General Grant's tomb which were exhibited a few months 

 ago have lately been shown again with the annual exhibition 

 of the Architectural League in this city. It has recently been 

 decreed by Congress that the hero's remains shall not be 

 transported to Washington, so it is probable that, if sufficient 

 money is subscribed, the memorial will be erected on Riverside 

 Drive by Mr. John H. Duncan, whose design was selected, last 

 autumn, from among those just referred to. Some of the archi- 

 tect's drawings (of course, on a greatly reduced scale) will be 

 found on this and the following page. These drawings also in- 

 cluded a large plan, a section and an elevation of the monu- 

 ment proper; but from the three offered a general idea with 

 regard to the effect of the monument can be gathered. To do 

 justice to the design the interior of the building should be 

 shown, for here — in an arrangement which recalls, but by no 

 means imitates, the tomb of Napoleon in thelnvalides at Paris 



still a bare hill-side to which no artist had given his attention, 

 and the future estate of which was still in doubt, the architect 

 ought to consider its possibilities in his design, and, in con- 

 junction with a landscape-gardener, ought to prescribe some 

 extensive scheme of treatment. But an artist has already here 

 been at work, and has laid out the noblest driveway in the 

 world, and to ignore these preparatory labors would be 

 doubly unintelligent. Yet, so far as could be seen from their 

 designs, no adequate thought was given to the surroundings 

 of the monument by any of Mr. Duncan's competitors. Of 

 course, all of them had borne in mind the elevated character 

 of the site, the free approaches to it, and the fact that it will be 

 well seen from a great distance to those who shall come by 

 land or water. But none of them seems to have felt the 

 necessity for uniting the building to its environment in an 

 integral way, or the desire to improve so rare an opportunity 

 for extended and varied architectural effort. Mr. Duncan, 

 however, has done this ; and despite the superiority of his 

 monument (in its interior at least) to that of any of his rivals, 



