October, 1909 
Floral clock of the Schwab Museum, Bienne, Switzerland 
Four times daily, in a grotto above the clock, appropriately 
framed in blossoms and verdure, groups representing various 
epochs—the cave-dwellers, the lake-dwellers, the Helve- 
tians, the early Christians, the people of the Middle Ages 
and later periods—make their appearance, presenting a 
moving chronicle of the progressive development of the 
human race. 
One of the first and most successful of this type of floral 
clock on record was the one installed in 1892, in the gar- 
den of the Trocadero, Paris, and which, sunk below the 
surface of the ground, to afford a better view of its dial, 
was the subject of much attention and wonderment at the 
time. The dial, 32 feet, 2 inches in diameter, with the floral 
hands, was designed and laid out by M. Debert, gardener 
and florist; the mechanical details were planned by M. Casa- 
longa and carried out by M. Mathieux; M. Marcel, land- 
scape architect, designed the attractive setting. A small jet 
of water, acting on floats, operated the concealed train of 
wheels by which the hands were removed. The mode of 
operation enhanced the novelty and interest of the clock. 
Edinburgh, the chief city 
of Scotband, and by natural 
location and artificial embel- 
lishment, one of the most 
beautiful of Europe’s mod- 
ern capitals, boasts an ex- 
ceptionally beautiful floral 
clock that has been laid 
out every summer for sevy- 
eral years past in the Prin- 
ces Street gardens and of 
which an illustration is pre- 
sented. The dial, measur- 
ing twelve feet across, is 
laid out on the sloping sur- 
face of a sort of mansard, 
hollow inside, but covered 
externally with green turf, 
against which the dial, a 
most beautiful specimen of 
carpet bedding, shows up 
admirably, American Aloe, 
Echeveria, Sedum and sim- 
ilar plants being tastefully 
combined in its construc- 
AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 
407 
tion. The figures, of fresh 
green pyrethrum, stand out 
clearly betweeen two con- 
centric rings of silver-gray 
sedum. Not only the dial, 
but the hands of this clock 
are florally worked out, be- 
ing long, shallow troughs 
of sheet-metal containing 
the earth in which suitable 
plants grow. Sedum and 
echeveria are the growths 
commonly used, and make a 
handsome appearance, the 
minute-hand having a total 
length of eight feet. Con- 
siderable ingenuity had to 
be displayed in balancing the 
hands, owing to the fact 
that the clock is laid out on 
a slope of about 40 degrees, 
the amount of moisture the 
soil and plants carried also 
causing the weight to vary 
widely. The works, an or- 
dinary tower movement, are located in the base of the 
adjacent Ramsay statue, driving-rods and suitable gears of 
non-corrosive metal, running in boxes kept filled with oil to 
prevent rust, transmitting the movement to the hands. 
Public interest in this remarkable time-piece has recently 
been stimulated by the addition of a simple train of wheel- 
works combined with a bellows and two organ pipes, con- 
cealed in the floral dial, with the aid of which the clock 
is made to sound a cuckoo hote at each quarter and at 
the hour. 
It is not necessary, however, to travel to foreign countries 
in search of notable specimens of floral clocks. A time- 
piece of this character forms one of the attractions of the 
water-works Park at Detroit, Mich., and is illustrated here- 
with. It is of unique design, the dial being vertical and 
operated by a jet of water; as long as the water-supply con- 
tinues the clock goes and never needs winding. It stands on 
a broad green base, the dial, about six feet in diameter, being 
composed of foliage and flowers in artistically contrasting 
shades, rows of white flowers being used to indicate the 
Floral clock at Edinburgh, Scotland 
