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AKKALS OF HORTJCULTUKE. 



Dwarfed and contorted pines and maples, the latter often bear- 

 ing many varieties in the same top, were also conspicuous. 

 Small young maple trees, of diverse forms, were used to good 

 effect in certain bays and angles. Bamboos, irises, azaleas and 

 variegated aucubas and elseagnuses gave color and spirit to the 

 whole. This Japanese garden could not be called beautiful, as 

 Americans understand rural art, but it was curious and gro- 

 tesque, and it was an excellent object lesson in the art of 

 patient and persevering garden-craft. 



The wax or composition models of fruits and vegetables 

 in the dome of the Horticultural Building were less perfect 

 than many American casts, but they illustrated some peculiar 

 types, especially the fingered oranges and the bamboo sprouts. 

 These sprouts spring from bamboo crowns, and they are boiled 

 and eaten after the manner of asparagus. The normal sprout 

 is about three inches through at the base and a foot long, tap- 

 ering gradually to the tip. The leaves are tightly imbricated, 

 the short, green tips spreading slightly, much after the manner 

 of a close-husked ear of corn. Egg plant fruits about half 

 matured, cucumbers, watermelons, the russet apple-like Japanese 

 pears, pomegranates, pomelos, vinifera grapes, apples — some of 

 them showing the work of the codlin moth — and a variety of 

 persimmons, completed the collection. These immature egg 

 plant fruits are prepared by the Japanese by boiling, with 

 sugar, when the flesh breaks down, forming a popular dish. 

 There were also dried fig-like persimmons, dried mushrooms 

 and chestnuts in the display. Gaudy artificial flowers, show- 

 ing cherries, peonies and chrysanthemums, wall charts and 

 drawings of flowers, and a unique collection of ornamental 

 flower pots in terra cotta and in colors, filled out the tables of 

 this curious exhibition. 



The Japanese wine exhibit was small, and confined to a 

 single variety of red wine. The display also showed preserved 

 truffles in small tin cans. 



