The Floriculture of New Orleans 
LONO before New Orleans gained the reputation 
of being the second largest port in the United 
States, the fame of her flowers and fair women 
had spread afar. Mere in the balmy climate of the 
sub-tropical zone — Flora reigns perennially, permeat- 
ing the air with the sweet and exotic perfume of the 
garden's choicest inhabitants. A fertile soil, plenty 
sunshine and sufficient rain, combined with an almost 
even year-round temperature, are essentials conducive 
to successful horticulture. New Orleans has all these. 
A walk or a drive through the principal residential 
streets of New Orleans will convince the most skep- 
tical that this is the flower city of the United States. 
And nature is responsible for almost everything. Com- 
paratively slight attention has been paid certain forms 
of gardening in New Orleans, but nature has been so 
bountiful in her gifts that this is almost lost sight of. 
The bloom of the flower in midwinter is nearly as 
great as in July or August. Snow or extreme tem- 
covered aisles of the building. To the south of this 
splendid hall are rows of sturdy oaks, some of them 
over two centuries old, standing near the river. The 
largest of the lot, known as the Martha Washington 
oak, is noted throughout the country for its age and 
dimensions. 
Especial attention has been paid certain species of 
flowers in Audubon Park. The pansy beds are ex- 
tremely beautiful at certain seasons of the year, and 
never fail to attract and charm the visitor. Several 
specimens of roses and lilies also flourish. The ferns 
and palms that gr< iw in warm climates are to be seen 
here in great profusion. It is only within recent years 
that the larger varieties of palms have been intro- 
duced in Louisville to any extent. Palms that grow 
plentifully in the Islaiitl of Cuba and parts of the West 
Indies, have been brought to Louisiana and thrive 
here as well as they do in the islarias. Many of the 
residential streets are now lined with them. 
.1 Midwinter Scene in City Park, Nezv Orleans. 
peratures are practically unknown in the metropolis 
of the South. 
Audubon Park, situated at the upper end of St. 
Charles avenue, the fashionable thoroughfare of the 
city, is the largest park in New Orleans. It extends 
from the avenue to the levees fronting the Mississippi 
river, a distance of approximately one mile. The 
grounds embrace 247 acres, and landscape gardening 
has recently been gone into extensively. A golf and 
tennis club are included within the grounds. 
This park was named after John Audubon, famous 
ornithologist, and one of Louisiana's most noted sons. 
It was the scene of the Cotton Centennial Exposition 
in 1882. The Horticultural Hall built as one of the 
principal structures on the exposition grounds, still 
stands in part. Many of the plants and flowers im- 
ported especially for the exposition, are in the glass- 
A city beautiful wave that swept over New Orleans 
two years ago, has had a wholesome effect upon the 
city from an artistic standpoint. Old vacant lots have 
been planted with the more common sort of flowers, 
and in many instances they have replaced the un- 
sightly sign boards most pleasingly. More attention, 
is being paid trees than heretofore. A commission 
composed of influential business men has the ques- 
tion of planting trees in hand, and they also prevent 
the indiscriminate destruction of shade trees in pub- 
lic localities. 
Owing to its being much smaller in size than Audu- 
bon Park, the other large New Orleans breathing 
place, City Park, has received somewhat more atten- 
tion in some respects. Much of the early history of 
New Orleans was written in and around the spot 
taken up by the park, and the massive oak trees shad- 
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