648 



HORTICULTURE AT THE WORLDS FAIR. 



in old age. The balsam's tendency to lack verdure near 

 the ground may be overcome by nipping out a part of the 

 leader in the young growth every year or two, thus con- 

 centrating the growth further down. Or, if planted 

 somewhat back of a mass of dwarf evergreens, its bare 

 -trunk will be hidden, and all the beauty of its strikingly 

 :Straight trunk, delicately-tapered top and deep green, 

 resinous foliage will be shown to such advantage as to 

 claim for this balsam a first place in any collection of 

 evergreens. When one has good-sized home-grounds, 

 there is no need of traveling great distances to wild 

 forests in order to obtain the benefits and enjoy the 

 beauty of masses of balsam-fir trees. Let us make them 

 companions of our homes. 



Such masses of evergreens as we have prescribed for 

 the balsam-fir are effective when planted with any fine 

 species. On page 647 is shown a view taken from a 



photograph of a portion of the evergreen masses at 

 Woodbanks. The object in presenting it is, principally, 

 to show how evergreens may be grown in a border, the 

 surface of which is kept clean and well cultivated, and 

 yet the monotonous aspect of such a border be broken 

 by planting some evergreens of the same kinds in the 

 lawn outside the border in such a way as to have it 

 appear that those outside are a mere continuation of the 

 mass within the border. Such irregular fringes to bold- 

 growing masses of evergreens are always found in nature. 

 They are like the soft blending which artists use between 

 high lights and dark shadows in a picture. 



As winter comes on those of us whose homes are shel- 

 tered by such evergreen masses may hug oursrlves in 

 self-gratulation, and pity less fortunate neighbors as 

 blizzards sweep by. It is interesting, too, to watch the 

 snow pile itself in fantastic masses upon the boughs. 



HORTICULTURE AT THE WORLD'S FAIR. 



THE BUILDINGS, GROUNDS AND PLANTS. 



NLIKE the Government building, which 

 Mrs. Van Rensselaer pronounced " as 

 ugly as it is big," the Horticultural 

 building for the World's Fair is as 

 beautiful as it is big. That this is 

 saying a good deal is made plain when 

 we consider its dimensions, its length 

 being 1,000 feet, and its extreme width 250 feet, while 

 the great dome surmounting the central pavilion is 187 

 feet in diameter and 113 feet high. 



Viewed from any point it is one of the most satisfying 

 of this group of splendid buildings ; a delight to the eye 

 as a whole and in detail. The frontispiece shows the 

 front of the Horticultural building, which faces eastward 

 on the lagoon and that fairyland, known in World's 

 Fair geography as the " Wooded Island," because here it 

 was. happily, possible to preserve a part of the indigenous 

 growth of oaks which, at the time the fair was located, 

 covered about half of the unimproved part of Jackson 

 Park ; so that some of the trees that looked on during 

 the Fort Dearborn massacre will witness the scenes that 

 mark this new epoch. 



West of the building, across wide, graveled prome- 

 nades, grassy lawns and beds of bright flowers, stands 

 the Horticultural annex. The middle part, with its 

 well-grown Japanese hop-vines, grown from seed started 

 in May and now (Sept.) in full bloom, is occupied by the 

 offices, and is quite pleasing ; but the interior is far more 

 interesting to the florist. There in their " greenrooms" 

 the plants are decking themselves for their appearance in 

 public, and each seems trying to outstrip its neighbor in 

 the race for favor. Doubtless the gentle murmuring one 

 hears is made by plant-voices wispering together, as 

 young creatures will, of that happy time when they are 

 to make their debut. 



The Chief of Floriculture is a busy man ; the long 

 summer days have been all too short, yet they have been 



made the most of, and the results make a fine showing- 

 Just now the interest centers in the 2,000 box-grown 

 plants used in decorating the Manufactures building 

 for the dedicatory ceremonies. About two acres of floor 

 space will be occupied by the floral decorations ; for 

 this purpose 30 or 40 carloads of choice, large, tropical 

 and semi-tropical plants have been donated, by public- 

 spirited men of wealth, from private conservatories all 

 over the country. Among these fine specimens are im- 

 mense palms, tree-ferns and bamboos, Indian and 

 Chinese. They will be used in the Horticultural build- 

 ing during the Fair, many of them on the strange moun- 

 tain now forming under the great dome, of which I hope 

 to tell you later, when it takes a photographable shape; 

 also, of the equally strange cave beneath the mountain. 



The 2,000 boxed plants, grown from seed started last 

 spring, make an attractive exhibit of which the conspic- 

 uous characteristic, aside from beauty, is an evenness of 

 growth that cannot fail to be remarked by the veriest 

 novice. Next is noted the good effects produced by 

 growing two varieties of a genus side by side. The re- 

 sult has something of the piquancy of charming 

 twin sisters, one a blonde, the other a brunette, bearing 

 that elusive resemblance to each other that is called 

 '■ family likeness " ; the contrast is pleasing, the resem- 

 blance perplexing, and the whole make-up fascinating. 



Among blossoming plants to be used in the Manufac- 

 tures building at the dedication are 250 mammoth 

 African marigolds and 200 each of Salvia splendens, 

 cassias, single dahlias and chrysanthemums. The re- 

 mainder is made up of decorative plants, including two 

 exceedingly graceful varieties of eucalyptus and two of 

 statice, a plant which the chief thinks should be more 

 generally grown. There are several varieties of coleus. 

 even richer in color effects, because of their velvety tex- 

 ture, than the flowering plants, and they in turn are 

 eclipsed in delicacy by those aristocrats among foliage- 



