Ornamentals, 
REPORT BY REV. LYMAN PHELPS, CHAIRMAN OF COMMITTEE. 
The orange tree leads on the list of 
ornamentals. It is not only the queen 
of fruits, but it stands royally at the head 
of our ornamentals, as we closely exam¬ 
ine its cell formation, so highly and beau¬ 
tifully developed, or when we breathe its 
exquisite fragrance. 
Citrus Aurantium is naturally a low- 
branching tree, always graceful, with 
greenish brown bark,elliptical, ovate, co¬ 
riaceous leaves of intense green, often 
with winged petioles and fragrant white 
flowers. The tree also is very long- 
lived. It is also most prolific in fruit, 
bears a large globose berry of eight or 
ten membranous cells, which are packed 
with pulp of fusiform cells, distended 
with an acid refreshing juice. 
I single out no one variety in this de¬ 
scription, but include the whole family 
of citrus. There are as many differing 
tastes as people in this respect. I in¬ 
clude the heavily laden kumquat, espec¬ 
ially when worked on the bitter sweet as 
a stock, as well as the pomelo when 
doubly worked on the bitter sweet, first 
to the Messina lemon and then to the 
pomelo. This last combination was 
pronounced the most beautiful tree Prof. 
Van Deman saw during a protracted 
stay in Florida. 
As in architecture, all ornamentation, 
to be truly beautiful, must be useful, so 
our most ornamental trees are our most 
useful ones. I have met a score of tour¬ 
ists who literally went wild over a row 
of kumquat trees worked on a bitter 
sweet stock. I did not oppose their 
tastes. I once on a December day gave 
a dinner to a party of Ohio editors and 
their wives, in an orange grove under the 
shade of the trees; they plucked pine¬ 
apples, cut roses, pulled oranges, drank 
orangeade and lemonade, but most ad¬ 
mired the well laden kumquat trees. 
I need not speak of the rose as the or¬ 
namental before which all other flowers 
pale. You know it. You all have your 
favorites. It is the flower that befits the 
christening, adorns the marriage feast 
and is in good taste at the burial obse¬ 
quies. It should be in every garden as an 
ornamental. 
THE PALM. 
The Oreodoxa granate stands at the 
head. The tree is characterized by the 
petals being united at the base in the 
pistillate flowers. There are six species 
of tropical America, all handsome, with 
tall, smooth, robust trunk. Some of the 
species are very tall, reaching one hun¬ 
dred and thirty to one hundred and fifty 
feet in height, with small white flowers, 
and small violet to deep garnet fruit on 
the slender drooping branches of a large 
spadix. 
