I'lIE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
97 
WONDER GARDENS OF PANAMA-PACIFIC INTER¬ 
NATIONAL EXPOSITION WILL DISPLAY WORLD’S 
HORTICULTURAL TRIUMPHS. 
By WALDEMAR H. F. N. de BILLE. 
Beautiful and c()ui])relieusive hortieultiiral 
disidays have been exhibited at the prin¬ 
cipal international ex])()sitions but climatic 
conditions have necessitated their liein^- 
limited, to exhibition in great halls designated for 
that ])nri)ose. While at the Panama-Pacific Interna 
tional P]x])osition at San Francisco next year there 
will be a monster Palace of Horticulture in which 
rare and exotic i)lants of every clime will be display¬ 
ed, the living gardens in the open will interest the 
horticulturist to a far greater degree. It is and has 
always been ])ossible to assemble under glass rare 
])lan1:s but in few regions other than San Francisco 
and its environs can these same plants be grown in 
the o])en during a ])eriod of ten consecutive months. 
The entire Ex])osition site will be one vast garden 
which will form the setting for the beautiful exhilrit 
])alaces and foreign and state ])avilions. Already 
millions of flowering plants from every country I’l 
the world have been set out in the lath-honses, green¬ 
houses and nurseries of the Exposition to be later 
transferred to the grounds. 
One of the first problems to be encountered by the 
landsca])e engineers was the lack of fertile soil. The 
site of the Exposition, it must be remembered, was 
less than a year ago but a barren hea]) of sand-dunes 
and ])artly sunken beneath a salt-marsh. This latter 
was filled in by the pumping from the Bay of millions 
of cubic yards of sand which after being levelled, nat¬ 
urally, offered no favorable base for the gardeners 
to work u])on. 
The consent of the United States (lovernment was 
finally gained to the pro])osition to iiiiinp soil from 
the bed of the Sacramento Biver and twenty-five mil¬ 
lion cubic yards of this rich soil was later trans])ort- 
ed seventy miles to the site and spread to a dejfili of 
from six to eight indies over the ground in the inter- 
s])aces lietween the sites of the palaces. 
Horticulturists of note in all parts of the world 
were next communicated with by cable and asked to 
send each, thousands of s])ecimens of the flowers pe 
culiar to the region in which they lived. Upon their 
arrival these were at once re-])lanted in the nurseries. 
Ex])ert gardeners were dis^iatched to India, C’hina, 
Africa, the Philippine Islands, Central and South 
America and Australia, and instructed to select the 
handsomest trees obtainable for exterior decoration. 
As manv of those chosen were hundreds of vears 
« « 
old, to transpoi't them and replant them safely neces¬ 
sitated the use of the ‘^side-box” system. For the 
benefit of those who are unfamiliar with this jirocess 
a moment’s digression for the juirpose of e.\])lana- 
tion may be ])erniissable. 
After marking out the tree desired, a huge knife, 
seven feet in length, is first passed around the four 
sides of the tree making a rectangular cnt some dis¬ 
tance from the base and seven feet in de])th. Rich 
fertilizer is next forced down the cuts and on the out¬ 
side of this boards are jiassed. The side roots have 
been severed and the tree must de])end for a time 
u])on its bottom roots for nourishment. Six months 
must then ebpise before the tree can again be touch¬ 
ed. This length of time is necessary in order to 
train the shortened side-roots to di'aw nourishment 
from the fertilizer. At the ex})iration of that })eriod 
the tree is again in good health and a slideway is cut 
down one side, the bottom roots severed, and a bot¬ 
tom board added to the others forming a large box. 
In this manner thousands of trees were treated and 
transported by steamshi]) from the farthest cornei’s 
of the earth to the Ex])osition, where they have been 
set out in the grounds. 
Included among these are two hundred rare i)alms, 
each of which cost more than one hundred dollars. 
The definite plan of arrangement of the flowers and 
trees and shrubs having been com])leted the work of 
setting them out is being rushed to completion by avi 
army of garden experts nnder the direction of John 
McEaren, Superintendent of San Francisco Parks 
and the creator of the famous (xoldeii (late Park. 
The main avenues are being ])lanted with large 
])alms and trees, with the east driveway ])lanted in 
Dracaena iitdiri.sd. The si)eciniens used by the. Ex- 
])osition are well branched ])lants and average in 
height eighteen feet. The south avenue will have a 
row of palms on either side, the yellow l*liocni.r and 
the WaDiiitfifonia rohasta being used. These will 
also average eighteen feet. 
The west avenue will be planted in Davali/ptn.s of 
Australia to an average height of twenty-eight feet 
on both sides. The north avenue will not be planted 
in trees, this omission being necessary to ])reserve the 
magnificent view of the cloud-tii)])ed hills of ^Marin 
(k^unty across the bay and the evergreen ])ortals of 
the Golden Gate at the entrance to the harbour. 
In the north gardens which will be exposed to the 
greatest ravages of weather, hardy trees and shrubs 
will be used and will include Dncaliipfus, Monterey 
