Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1905-08-16

and bay, studded with boats, great
and small, the city domes and roofs
on either har as far as vision can
reach, the eye Is Teasing while the
inner man is fed. Many of the city's
! business clubs now have restaurants
OF this sort.
The elaboration of the roof garden
idea has been carried to it's highest
development in the airy refectories
now provided by many of the big
hotels. Over the old Hoffman house
the roof gar den is in FLEMISH style,
with color scheme OF black and
white. From the top of the Belle
claire, on the west side of tle city,
the diners have an uninterrupted
view of the Hudson river and the
palisades beyond. The Majestic roof
at Seventy-second street and Central
park west has been extensively fitted
up with Conservatives for plants and
flowers with rustic arbors, where
guests of the house may enjoy beauti-
fu views by day and gather for COM
fort on sultry evenings, The Wal
dorf-Astoria has a sumptuously fitted
roof garden for patrons No elaborate
meals are served, but only light re-
fresnments of salads and con-
fections.
But the Italian garden on tle root
of the seven-million-dollar Hotel
Astor is by far the most delightful
and extensive of these gardens in the
air. Here, far up above the traffic
and hustle of Broadway, has been re-
produced on a gigantic scale by w.
c. IuschenGeim, the proprietor, a
garden of the style for which the
vineclad Hills of Tuscany are famous.
The garden covers the area of sixty
five city lots. A half-mile of Cali
fornia privet encircles the garden
and girds tne flower beds, and nearly
three hundred truck loads of flowers
and plants were used in identifying
the place
Every blade of grass is real; every
palm is CROWN plant; every
flower has budded and bloomed here
Beds of nasturtiums are laid out in
artistic Shapes. Here and there are
clumps of ferns intermingling with
coleus and pandanus Nearly 1900
geraniums cover the wall of the
rockery over which at night flows an
illuminated cascade.
Huge baskets hang from the
Italian Pergola that lines this floral
no f1n ho nly ~
which are moss-lined, beautiful ferns,
with geraniums and fuchsias, droop
ia their natural beauty. The white
liars of the Pergola are covered al
most entirely with English ivy, ana
the lattice work makes a splendid
background for the vine which
spreads its shapely leaves in great
profusion.
There are nydrangeas in vases ana
rhododendrons in tubs-while Vir-
ginia creeper and honeysuckle are
mingled with eucalyptus and lilac.
In nearly every case the flowers are
planted in beds when are surrounded
by turf, forming small green lawns,
constituting an innovation in aerial
architecture. In the pools at the foot
Of the cascades are masses of water
lilies and Gala lilies, and around the
basins tAere is broad border OF
white clover and blue grass.
The prospect which greets the eye
OF the nocturnal visitor to this Won
derland is one to remember for life
time. Far down below lies Times
square with its endless line of lighted
trolley cars gliding to and fro.
Stretching out into the night the eye
follows "tne great white way" while
| the lofty Times building nearby ana
tho famous Flat-iron more distant
rise like giant ghosts In the darkness.
In the opposite direction the eye
rests upon the Hudson, dotted here
and there by iglted river craft fit
ting about like fireflies in the black.
ness reflected from the frowning
cliffs and distant palisades.
With such cool and charming re-
treats at hand and continually multi.
plying, 1t is little wonder that many
New Yorker sees no reason for
leaving town during the heated term.
The popularity of the roof garden
seems firmly established and each
summer witnesses increased patron
age of these resorts for the delecta-
ton of the people.