From Dining-Room to Tropics— By Frank h. Presby 



A NEW IDEA FOR AN INDOOR GARDEN OF NIGHT-BLOOMING WATER- 

 LILIES WITH WHICH TO SURPRISE ONES GUESTS AFTER DINNER 



I DO not know of a more dreary place for 

 the true plant-lover than the usual stereo- 

 typed conservatory. Palms, crotons, rubber 

 plants, pandanus, and the like, are all very 

 well in their way, but any one can see them 

 in a better condition in any florist's store or 

 greenhouse. Even when blooming plants, 

 grown elsewhere to the flowering stage, are 

 brought in to give color to such a conserva- 

 tory, you are likely to have something more 

 or less conventional and unimaginative. 

 When I have a few thousand dollars to spend, 

 I expect to build a conservatory that will be 

 very different from any I have ever seen. 

 My plan will be, by one step, to transport you 

 from the Arctics to the tropics. It will open 

 from my dining-room, but the door leading 

 to it will be locked during dinner, with a cur- 

 tain in front of the door so that no one would 

 suspect it was there. After dinner, when 

 the cigars have been passed, the curtain 

 will be drawn aside and a button touched 

 will light up the conservatory. When the 

 door is opened and we leave the dining-room 

 my guests will find themselves in the tropics. 

 The walls will be covered with ferns, bunches 

 of bamboos and papyrus will stand in the 

 corners, and the middle of the house will be 

 given to a large tank filled with the tender 

 night-blooming lilies, the varieties that open 

 soon after sunset and remain open until noon 

 the next day. Many varieties will open and 

 close for four or five days in succession. The 

 water in the tank must be heated to give 

 results, and the plants can be put in tubs. 



I know what varieties to get, for I visited 

 the leading dealer in aquatic plants when 



the water-lilies were in bloom and made note 

 of the kinds I liked best. 



The reds I want are Frank Trelease 

 and Rubra rosea. Of the pinks, I like 

 best O'Marana and George Huster; of the 

 whites, I prefer Jubilee and Dentata. Dean- 

 iana and Kewensis, two light pink varieties, 

 are also very good. There are no yellows. 



I plan a house about 50 x 20. The walls 

 will be of brick about six feet high, with an 

 inside lining of tuffa stone from Berea, O. 

 This stone is rather soft when first taken 

 out, but hardens after it has been exposed to 

 the air a short time. The surface is very 

 like coral and it can be found in large as well 

 as small pieces. It will be laid up against 

 the brick wall with cement mortar, leaving 

 many pockets for planting with ferns. These, 

 with the bamboos, papyrus and water-lilies, 

 will be all the planting. I expect the ferns 

 to "self-sow" and multiply without any care 

 on my part. Eventually they should cover 

 the walls with a living mass of green. 



The greatest cost of running such a house 

 will be the heating. The cost could be re- 

 duced by putting the boiler in the cellar of 

 the house and thus do away with the chimney 

 and boiler pit. After the ferns are planted 

 they will flourish for many years, and the first 

 cost of the water-lilies would not be a large 

 item. Japanese gold-fish would thrive in 

 such a pool. The house must be well- 

 lighted to show the color of the flowers. I 

 have a notion or two about a novel and 

 effective way of lighting such a house. 

 One of the leading firms of greenhouse 

 architects has made the following estimate 



of the cost of- the water-lily house erected 

 complete for me. at Montclair, N. J.: 



The glass roof $1,025 



The masonry 1 ,Soo 



Heating plant 575 



$3,400 



The woodwork would be clear, air-dried, 

 red Gulf cypress. There would be two lines 

 of roof-ventilating sash, each line operated 

 independently. The masonry work would 

 be of stone, bedded in concrete. The boiler- 

 cellar would be about 18x4. 



A small outdoor water-garden is just the 

 thing to make one's place different from the 

 general run of commonplace gardens. Whv 

 not try some hardy water-lilies this year? I 

 have two pools in my garden, and both are a 

 source of great pleasure to my family and 

 myself, as well as the stranger in my gates. 

 One is planted with water-lilies and the other 

 with lotus. In the former we have flowers 

 from early spring to late autumn. The 

 colors are white, yellow and pink. The lotus 

 blooms for a period of about two months, 

 and I have nothing in my garden to compare 

 with its flowers in beauty. If you are a lazy 

 gardener, try water-lilies. They require no 

 watering, when even-thing else is drying 

 up, and no weeding at any time. They 

 multiply so fast with me that most of them 

 have to be dug up every spring, and the in- 

 crease sells at good prices. Do not grow 

 geraniums, cannas, coleus, and the like, when 

 so many beautiful plants can be grown so 

 different from vour neighbors. 



SIDE ELEVATION 



END ELEVATION 



Ferns 



Boiler ""» CpalCellar bejoi 



I J- 



Cement Walk 



Ferns 



■ 50-d'/i- 



5ECTI0N 



32-35. Plans of the novel greenhouse for water-lilies which can be attached to a house already built 



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