People's Pilot, Volume 2, Number 42, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 April 1893 — AMONG THE FLOWERS. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

AMONG THE FLOWERS.

Beauties of the Horticultural Exhibit at the World’s Fair. Plant* from All Over the World— Under the Great . Glasa Dome— Fruita of Every Known Clime. [Special Chicago Correspondence.]

BOUT the most inviting spot at the world’s fair grounds these spring days is the section given over to the gardens and 1 the horticultur a 1 exhibit After the long, severe winter which has just closed a sniff of the air which is already redolentof bursting buds and fresh foliage is inched welcome and

Invigorating. Where but a few days ago was nothing but snowbanks there are now rows upon rows of plants, lined out to get their roofings for planting, and as far as the eye can reach there are beds and plots covered with the tender nurslings that are to beautify the neighborhood of Horticultural halt Within the great hothouses countless numbers of pots and baskets, containing rare plants and flowers from almost every state in the union, are ranged along the walls awaiting their turn to be transplanted to the soil without. Here and there throughout the mammoth nursery huge palms rear their majestic plumes, and tender, clinging vines from tropical climes are being trained up the pillars and supports of the building, giving the beholder a foretaste of the rare treat in store for him when the summer season comes. Of the thousands upon thousands of people who visit the grounds nowadays very few miss visiting the beauty spot of the fair. There is much to attract and interest in the great structures of the other departments, but nature is

the greatest artist, after all, and in her handiwork mankind finds the greatest pleasure and enjoyment, and so from the wonderful works of man we turn with a sense of keen delight to the still more wonderful productions of her hand. It would be a difficult if not impossible task to picture in words the manifold beauties which will gladden the eyes of visitors to the floral department of the world’s fair. The most skillful floriculturists in the country have been employed for many months in preparing for this exhibit. At their head is John Thorpe, a trained and ex-

perienced hand who has made the care of flcrwers the study of his life. Of him John McGovern says in his World’s Fair Journal: “His mind is an unexplored encyclopedia of the most beautiful. In the huge volume of his knowledge each page is a flower, the tenderest. sweetest, loveliest thing that man touches with his five rude senses. By common fame no other man known to .the western hemisphere has come.upon such a Insight of experience, instinct and devotion.” J Mr. Thorpe was born in "England and has spent fifty years of his busy life amyng plants and flowers. An ideal existence truly. He has had charge of come of the most ex tensive gardens and

greenhouses in the east, and it Is not undue praise to say of him that he is unquestionably the best man for the place that could be found in the country to-day. Under his watchful eye the delicate leaves and tendrils unfold and through his careful nursing the frailest pets of the hot-house are brought up from the tiny shoot to the full-grown strength of maturity. In the horticultural department there will be exhibits from all over the world. From far-away Australia, from Japan, from South America, from every European country, and from every quarter of the North American continent will come the wealth of fruit and flowers peculiar to each locality. The several states of the union are here, pitted in intense but friendly rivalry. Semitropical fruits, plants and flowers from the southern states will illustrate to the world the balmy aspect of nature in those favored climes. Hardy annuals from the extreme north, the rich and variegated product of fruit orchards in the middle and western states will

all serve as object lessons of the special adaptation of certain localities to horticulture. Within the limits of the horticultural exhibit will be shown the products of a score of different climates. Artificial temperature for tender plants, scientific care, and a row of greenhouses in working order will give the visitor a practical idea of the possibilities of horticulture.

The flori cultural exhibit at the world’s fair will be for the masses. Evtanical experts and connoisseurs will find plenty to interest them, but it is not solely their show. The millionaire orchid fancier or the chrysanthemum expert will find fresh revelations in the wondrous variety of their favorite flowers. But the whole theory of the floricultural exhibit is mainly based ou the popular idea. The visitor from an obscure rural district or from the heart of a great city, whose sole conception'of flowers is limited io a few superficial details, will here have a world of knowledge presented. The possibilities of floral culture to those who love flowers will be one of the main features in the horticultural display. For the special benefit of those who make a close study of plants and flowers there will be scientific experiments from day to day within the eave in the eenter of Horticultural building. To the mass of visitors these experiments will not appeal strongly, however fascinating and instructive to the few. For the benefit of the people at large the department of floriculture has been arranged to make a specialty of spectacular effects. Outside as well as inside the building the most artistic effects have been planned on* a scale that has never known a parallel in any similar exposition. Masses of color, flaming as the sunset, or delicate as the early dawn, will be spread on the lawns in front of the building and on the wooded island. Fountains, garden plats, rustic seats and other restful effects will tempt the visitor who is weary of the magnificence in other parts of the grounds. Inside the building the tropical verdure will transplant the visitor to the sunny southland. Winding pathways through the courts and curtains of the building will lead on to fresh revelations. Around the interior of the great dome has been built a gallery, from which the visitor may look out upwn vistas of verdure and brilliant color. Horticultural hall itself contains much more floor space than the combined areas of the Horticultural biu’ldings at the centennial, 2iew

Orleans and Paris. It la one thousand feet long, with an extreme width of two hundred and eightyseven feet The dome is one hundred Mid eighty-seven feet in diameter, with an interior height of one hundred and thirteen feet The largest tree ferns, palms, bamboos and giant cacti are here exhibited. Front and rear curtains connect the dome with two end pavilions, forming two interior courts, each eighty-eight by two hundred and seventy feet The front curtains have glass roofs and are devoted entirely to floriculture. The rear curtains are partly covered with glass, and will be mainly filled by the exhibit of green fruits. The end pavilions are for the wine exhibit, a portion of the fruit display. Orchids, dahlias, pelargoniums and flowering annuals will be among the principal features of the fall display. During the whole period of the expo* sition there will be weekly displays of cut flowers on each Tuesday. The seasonal varieties of cut flowers wiU bo as complete and as exhaustive as in the main departmental exhibits. Pansies in the spring and . again 'pansies in the fall form the outer limits, between which the artistic skill of the designer will have an endless chain of beauty. From the conservatories of George W. Childs there will come two car loads of caladiums—the finest collection in the world —which are to be in place as an exhibit on the nation’s holiday, July 4. One exhibitor will send one hundred thousand dollars’worth of orchids, and among the famous orchid collectors who will exhibit may be mentioned Corning of Albany, Kimball of Rochester and Ames of Boston. Other connoisseurs in America and Europe will be represented. One of the brilliant displays will be the largest collection of cycadaceous plants ever brought together. The display of aquatic plants will be in the south court of the building. The fruit display will be in the west curtains and the pavilions. This, too, will change according to seasons, and in seme sections the kaleidoscopic effect will be more rapid than in the floral display. To maintain a constantly fresh and attractive display is the task of the department of pomology. Practically all the states will be represented by a fruit display of some kind, and individual exhibitors will be numerous. The leading fruit growers of the country will have special exhibits. Many of the states and several foreign countries will have handsome pavilions. Fruit will not be shown in great masses but in almost infinite varieties. Minnesota, New York, Maine and Oregon will have especially attractive displays.

Green fruits will be shown in the main sections of the curtains. Canned goods, seeds, vegetables, jellies, evaporated fruits, etc., will be shown in the north pavilion. In pomaceous and stone fruits there will be first the later-keeping apples and all kinds of pears. These are now in cold storage for the opening of the fair. In many cases they will be shown preserved in glass jars. Canada will make a magnificent display of apples and pears, and Russia will be in at the opening with a similar display. New South Wales will send a splendid exhibit of fruit in jars. Maine will have a fine display of apples. In citrous fruits will be oranges, lemons, limes, etc., from Florida, California, Louisiana, Spain, Mexico, Italy and France and from South American countries. In tropical and subtropical fruits, snch as bananas, pineapples, tamarinds, figs and olives, there will be a liberal display from South America and from Florida. The latter is the only state which sends all fruits to the exposition free of charge. Small fruits, including strawberries, raspberries, blackberries and currants, will be exhibited during the entire season. The first displays will come from the southern states, then from the middle and northern states and from Canada. New York will send three hundred varieties of strawberries.

One of the foremost spectacular displays will be outside the building, on the east lawns facing the lagoon and the wooded island. On either side of the central fountain are two immense lawns, which will be a blaze of color when the exposition opens, and whose attractiveness will be renewed according to the seasons. Here again Pennsylvania and New York will meet in floral rivalry. Pennsylvania will occupy the north and New York the south lawn. Brilliant in the extreme will be the flaming crimson, saffron or scarlet fields from the bed where tens of thousands of cannas, pansies and other popular flowers have been planted. Crossing either of the bridges to the wooded island the visitor reaches a still more extensive outdoor floral display. On the south end of the island under the trees there will be fields of rhododendrons, azaleas and lilies from Belgium, Holland, Great Britain and the United States. Close by lies the geometrical rose garden of one and a quarter acres, i where fifty thousand roses will bloom. West of the rose garden will be large collections of old-fashioned herbaceous plants, and to the north a magnificent collection of ornamentalleaved shrubs and trees, including the cut-leaved Japanese maple. There will be exhibits of European peonies and other hardy plants, and a special display of phloxes, asters and dahlias from Germany. Pennsylvania will show an immense collection of garden plants.

JOHN THORPE.

UNDER THE HORTICULTURAL DOME.

SOME HARE SPECIMENS.