PARK AND CEMETERY 
1 75 
Horticulture at the World’s Fair, St. Louis, 1904 * 
The Palace of Horticulture at the 
World’s Fair at St. Louis, illustrated 
on this page, stands on the summit of 
Skinker Hill, and is separated from the 
Palace of Agriculture by 250 feet of 
model gardens. It is 400 by 800 feet 
in extreme measurements, and is in the 
form of a cross, with a center pavilion 
400 feet square, and two wings, each 
204 by 330 feet. The wings are divided 
from the center pavilion by glass parti- 
tions and the floor of each is 9 feet 
lower than that of the center pavilion. 
This difference in elevation produces a 
monumental effect, which is further 
heightened by the use in the main en- 
trance on the north front of two> towers 
150 feet high. The eastern wing of the 
building is almost entirely of glass and 
will be used as a conservatory. Plants 
will be forced during the winter and 
early spring for outdoor planting, and 
in the conservatories will be kept trop- 
ical plants. In this wing will be shown 
specimens of plants grown in different 
countries for use and ornament, and 
the forced culture of vegetables and 
fruits. The west wing is used for gen- 
eral horticultural exhibits. In the base- 
ment of this wing cold storage is pro- 
vided for the fruit to be exhibited, the 
cellar having double walls packed with 
sawdust. A gallery is provided on three 
sides. The west and north galleries 
will be used as restaurants, where the 
visitor may observe the exhibits below 
while at lunch. The center pavilion 
will contain the pomological exhibits. 
This department has just issued a circu- 
lar of 40 pages, giving complete informa- 
tion about its exhibits and plans. It 
will be sent on request by Frederic W. 
Taylor, Chief, Department of Horticul- 
ture. Outdoor exhibits will be a promi- 
nent feature, as the department has 69 
acres of land at its disposal. A large 
area is set aside for distinctly Ameri- 
can trees, shrubs, and evergreens. In- 
formation as to new or ‘desirable things 
which should be included in this col- 
lection is sought by the Department. 
* * * 
The World's Fair lawns, in the 69 
acres comprising the horticulture sec- 
tion, are exhibits, and have been care- 
fully planned by Mr. Joseph A. Had- 
kinson, superintendent of outdoor plant- 
ing. Some of the lawns have been grown 
under the most discouraging conditions. 
All along the east side of the Palace 
of Agriculture a few months ago was 
a mass of yellow, sticky clay. A ravine, 
17 feet deep, was filled with clay brought 
from the top of a neighboring hill. This 
was smoothed, plowed and harrowed 
and a top dressing of good soil, nearly 
a foot thick, was spread over the clay. 
This was worked, pulverized and pre- 
pared for the seed. The seed selected 
was blue grass and rye grass, mixed 
in equal parts. The rye was first in 
evidence, but it has done the work that 
was required of it and has passed away. 
It ’peeps up in six or seven days and is a 
nurse crop for the blue grass. Another 
difficulty encountered was found in the 
moles, that were exterminated in the 
following manner : The mole takes his 
meals regularly at 6 a. m., noon, and 
at 6 p. m., and at these hours he was 
watched. The ridges were beaten down, 
and when the mole went over the route 
again the ridge was raised. Then a 
spade was driven in the ground across 
the mole’s route and behind him to 
prevent his escaping into one of the 
deep holes that he has provided for 
emergencies. The spade stopped his 
progress and he was easily dug out and 
dispatched. In less than a month the 
moles were banished from the agricul- 
tural section of the World’s Fair. 
jjs ^ >}j 
An old English garden is to be repro- 
duced at the World’s Fair. Mr. T. W. 
Brown of London, recently chief land- 
scape architect to the Sultan of Moroc- 
co, is now in St. Louis to supervise the 
transformation of the grounds surround- 
ing Great Britain’s building into an 
English country-seat garden of 200 y.ears 
ago. Mr. Brown says of this garden : 
“In the garden which we shall create 
here there will be no paling fences and 
no geranium beds such as I observe in 
the American gardens. Hedges will be 
a predominant feature, thus at the very 
borders of the garden giving it a dis- 
tinctly English motif; and instead of 
the blossoms chiefly featured in present- 
day landscape treatment we shall have 
the old-fashioned flowers as our chief 
aids to color variety.” Perhaps the 
most English of any of the features of 
this old garden will be the pleached 
alley in the nature of an arbor, with 
poplars or other handsome trees planted 
in parallel rows to form the side walls. 
The branches will meet and cross over- 
head, forming a roof of shade. The 
whole tract will be bordered with 
hedges of yew several feet wide, trimmed 
flat at the top and perpendicular at the 
sides. A great sun-dial, of quaint design, 
will form the centerpiece of a series of 
pathways on the level ground east of the 
Orangery. Throughout the grounds 
will be placed sculptured pieces in 
bronze or urns of marble. There will 
be two fountains, which at night will 
be ablaze with electric lights. In the 
basins opportunity will be afforded for 
the display of aquatic plants. It is the 
purpose of this garden to show the 
magnificent wealth of English flora. 
Blended with such old-fashioned flow- 
ers as the hollyhock, the sweet william, 
the heartsease, the phlox, the periwinkle, 
the wild thy m‘e, the sweet briar, the 
primrose and the gilly flower will be 
many blossoms^ of later culture. 
HORTICULTURE BUILDING, WORLD’S FAIR, ST. LOUIS. 
