Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-05-19

room but has no prominence aside from the
restful effect Of q mass Of green. One OF
the prettiest conservatory effects in town Is
in the house of a Mrs. Fogg on upper Fifth
avenue. The conservatory opens out OF the
dining room which is leather hung, brass
studded room bearing the impress OF Mr..
Louis Tffany's ingenious decorative talent
The conservatory is screened behind by
glass doors that shut it off If desired, but
the doors are so fashioned as to blend with
and admit the beauty Of the green beyond:
The greater part is of clear glass, but
mingled with it is stained glass which
takes the semblance of vines and flowers
These are admirably drawn, glorious in
color and assist in the prettiest illusion
possible.
These are inefficient to show the scope
and disposition OF the city conservatory. 1t
is not intended for the cultivation of plants
or flowers. 1t is prompted by neither love
OF flowers nor knowledge of plants. It is an
appendage of wealth, "a feature OF decoration,
and has nothing in it more personal than
carpets and curtains.
LITTLE WOMEN
who grow early primroses and cultivate
rose slips under disused sash, and is SUI
premely content if she can attach few
yards OF glass to the side of her house, may
have fancied she would like to exchange
cuttings with the mistress of some fine city
conservatory, but the two speak different
tongues. They both have the pleasure of
possession, but they arrive at it in an en-
tirely different way.
1t could not be otherwise. There is not
sun enough in town for the cultivation of
flowers. The most that can be hoped for is
a place to display them. Tropical foliage
is preferred not only because it is decorative,
but because it comes from the sitting,
shadowy jungles, and can be appropriately
housed in a steam-heated, shaded city con-
servatory. Moreover, city people do not
care to take trouble in doing what can be
better done for them, as there are enough
other distractions to occupy their lives.
Money can do most things for them. In the
spring their bits of yard are one day dun
and brown. The next day they are set with
emerald turf and enameled with primroses,
daffodils and tulips.
For conservatories such as those described
there are no gardeners. They are stocked
and tended by some city florist. One of the
most prominent orchid growers and florists
who does great deal OF this sort of thing
says:
servatory. He comes to me and tells me
to see his place, we compare ideas, talk it
over, and the rest is left to me, 1 agreeing
to take charge of it for so much a month.
The plants l own; my client probably
doesn't know their names. So often a week
my men visit it, water, wash and look after
the health and welfare of the plants. The
only thing my client is responsible for is
frost. He has the heating of the conser-
vatory, can't control that If he allows
the plants to be killed by too low tenn
perature he has to pay for them, for own
them, and so to speak, rent them to him,
the rent being included in the gross sum
paid to me monthly. There are fashions in
plants, as in everything. At present the
basis of every conservatory is tropical
foliage. These we get mainly in palms, and
ferns of which there are endless varieties.
These are not transplanted but stand in
tubs that may be hidden if desired in costly
jars. Those we do not furnish. In their
season we furnish plants in bloom, and
when the period Of bloom is over we take
them away and substitute others. A short
time ago azaleas were in great demand.
Again it is rhododendrons. At present
orange trees in bloom are the object of
eVerybody's desire"
THE ORCHID CRAZE.
"surely the craze of all crazes is or
chids7"
'You remember when everybody had
rustic baskets swinging from the ceiling.
Well, that craze has passed, and now we
have orchids. Orchids are more curious.
A bit of wood suspended from q thread
alive with strange shapes OF wondroas
color"
care they not difficult to cultivate?'
''They are difficult to start and require
the closest care. This is done in our country
forcing houses. But when once they are
started they can be transferred to city con-
servatory and require no more care than do
the ferns and palms"
'Then there are no private orchid fancisrs
in town."
"There have been but two to my knowl-
edge. Mr.. Jay Gould has fine collection,
but those are in his glasshouses at Tarry-
town. The only orchid grower in town is
Mr.. Arnold, of the great drygoods firm. He
has collection to be compared with that of
Mr.. Gould and of Mr.. Chadwick, of Albany,
whose orchids are probably the finest in the
country"
The other orchid grower to which the
florist referred was the late opulent Mary
Jane Morgan. Mrs. Morgan's orchid house
was plain but extensive glass affair over
her stables. Her ambition was to have the
most comprehensive collection in the
country, and her 81, 500 orchid out of the
Duke Of Devonshire's sale of duplicates is a
matter of orchid history.
The school mistress element always re-
mained in lively force in Mrs. Morgan's
nature. As she took up one fancy or an
other she acquainted herself Thoroughly with
it, and library of speeialties was the result.
In this case her enthusiasm Is embalmed in
an orchid nOrqdniensiS, named for her bY
orchid growers.
Nothing about city conservatories would
be complete without an allusion to the
winter gardens of some of the hospitals,
The New York Hospital has spacious glass
house on its roof with center of palms and
tropical foliage and about it wide prom
enade where convalescents are wheeled in
rolling chairs and may lie and luxuriate in
the health-giving sun.
MARY GAY HUMPHREYS.