September 1, 1894. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
9 
SCHENLEY PARK CON¬ 
SERVATORY. 
The munificent gift of Mr. Henry Phipps, Jr., to the 
city of Pittsburgh, Pa., is without doubt the most ex¬ 
tensive conservatory ever built in the United States. 
It is located in Schenley Park, opposite the Carnegie 
library, and is under the management of Supt. A. 
W. Bennett, formerly of the famous Melrose Park, 
Flatbush, L. I., the private estate of Mr. William 
Brown, which was laid out and managed for over 
six years by Mr. Bennett, to the entire satisfaction 
of Mr. Brown and the public who visited the annual 
displays held there. It is only four months since 
the Schenley Park conservatory was opened, and 
in that short space of time Mr. Bennett has ably 
shown his skill as a manager and is to be highly 
complimented for the very fine collection of plants 
already gathered. 
For the following description of the conservatory 
throughout. The staging is all of slate and iron ; 
the ventilating apparatus is of the most approved 
type ; the glass the very best; the walks throughout 
the houses are cement. The heating is by means of 
steam, with boilers fitted to burn both coal and gas, 
the latter being now in use. The foundations are 
fine cut Amherst sand stone. 
The office building is of the same stone, well 
executed. Its interior is fitted with offices, work 
rooms, etc., and is finely finished. Underneath this 
building is a storeroom, cold storage space, and the 
steam boilers. Water is delivered at every faucet, 
both cold and hot; The ponds for Lilies are heated 
with jets of hot water from the water supply sys¬ 
tem. In fact, nothing is omitted to make a model 
range of glass. 
The following is a short account of some of the 
plants now in the conservatory : 
In the Palm house the walks are gracefully curved 
and surrounded by a well arranged rockery, highly 
a very effective manner, surrounded with rockery 
work, giving them an unique appearance. 
I will next mention the Azalea house, where 
hundreds of this lovely class of plants, all fine speci¬ 
mens and loaded with bloom, made all Pittsburg 
rejoice at Easter. The Cineraria and Cyclamen 
houses contain thousands of plants, were visited one 
Sunday by over four thousand people. Next 
is the Calceolaria house, in which there are a 
thousand or more of healthy plants that will make a 
gorgeous show in due time. 
In the Aquatic house the central part is devoted to 
sunken tanks in the "natural style," which have a 
very pleasing effect. Hundreds of choice Lilies, in¬ 
cluding Victoria Regia, are growing here and are 
sure to be a source of much enjoyment to the visitors 
of Schenley Park next summer. 
For summer bedding out a fine collection of Gera¬ 
niums, Cannas, Coleus, Achyranthes, Alternan- 
theras, Echeverias, Cactuses and general bedding 
Front and Rear Views of the Shenley Park Conservatory. 
and for the illustration here shown, we are indebted 
to Messrs. Lord & Burnham Co., of Irvington-on- 
Hudson, N. Y. The plan of the conservatory con¬ 
sists of a centre Palm house 6o ft. wide, 132 ft. long 
and 60 ft. high. Running from the ends of this 
house are two houses each 30 ft. wide by 104 ft. 
long. At the end of these houses are two octagonal 
domed roof houses, each 52 ft. in diameter. From 
the sides of these and at right angles with the other 
houses, extend four houses, each 35 ft. by 84 ft. In 
the rear of the Palm house is an elaborate fire-proof 
office building, 32 ft. by 53 ft. 
These houses are capable of a great variety of 
treatment, and are intended as Palm house, show, or 
exhibition house, flowering plant house, tropical or 
stove he use, general aquatic house, Victoria regia 
house, Fern house, and Orchid houses. 
The length of the conservatory is 454 feet, while 
it covers an area of about 34,000 feet of ground. 
The glass surface is over 60,000 square feet. It is 
equipped throughout in the most practical and 
thorough manner, and has been called the finest ex¬ 
ample of horticultural architecture and construction 
to be found anywhere. The construction is iron 
ornamented with fine specimens of Palms of various 
kinds, the same of Marantas, Dracaenas, Pandanus, 
Ferns, Musas, Ficuses, Fittonias, and Lycopodiums ; 
the whole forming a picture not soon to be forgotten. 
The stove house contains many fine specimens 
of Marantas, Dracaenas, Dieffenbachias, Costus, 
Malortieas, Curmeria Wallisii, Pritchardia grandis, 
Cyanophyllum magnificum, Sphaerogyne latifolia, 
and quite a fine collection of Crotons, embracing all 
the best varieties, together with monstrous specimens 
of Adiantum in variety, beautiful Alocasias, Anthuri- 
ums, and other beautiful plants. 
Next, the cool Fern house, the chief attraction of 
which is the Australian tree Ferns, Dicksonia 
Antarctica, supposed to be the largest under cultiva¬ 
tion. Other remarkable features in this house are 
the enormous specimens of Platyceriums, better 
known as Stag’s Horn Fern ; they are growing on 
the trunks of trees and measure 5 ft. in diameter. 
With this group of plants are two Todea barbara, 
being the finest specimens in the world. There are 
also elegant specimens of the Bird’s Nest Fern 
(Asplenium nidus), Gleichenias, Lomarias, and 
Blechnums. The cool dwarf Ferns are arranged in 
plants are raised. It will take several hundred 
thousand plants of this description, for Mr. Bennett 
intends to have the Schenley Park flower garden 
second to none in this country. 
The Easter display consisted of grand specimens 
of Azaleas of many varieties, Marguerites, Genista 
canariensis and plumosa, Freesia refracta, Lilium 
Harrisii, Cinerarias, Hydrangea otaksa, and a variety 
of fancy flowering Pelargoniums. On the middle of 
the show table was a fine specimen of Azalea Van 
der Cruyssen, a lovely pink. It was raised on a 
pedestal, some four feet high, around which was a 
group of Lilium Harrisii, in oval form ; a band of 
the Lilies was carried around the table. On each 
side of the centre-piece were two mounds of Azaleas 
in various colours, the centre-pieces being good 
specimens of Azalea Cocorde Orange, the surround¬ 
ing plants tapering neatly from the centre. At one 
end of the table was a mound of Marguerites, and at 
the other of Genista plumosa ; the centre plant for 
the Marguerites was a well-formed specimen of 
Azalea Ceres, white striped red ; and of the 
Genistas, Azalea Bernhard Andreas alba .—John A 
Boyle, in American Gardening. 
