Los Angeles herald., 1907-10-20

arising to a height of a hundred feet,
where gracefully sweeping and rich Royal
palms spread their branches. The orchid
house is treat In itself, for there can
be found the rarest and costliest OF these
dainty blossoms. The head gardener has
a force Of fifty men under him who do
nothing but care for the blossoms and
plants In the conservatorfes and about
the lawns Equally important is the post
OF head forester whose crew is kept
busily engaged trimming and pruning
the old and setting out new trees. Some
idea Of the magnitude of this work can
be had when 1t is known that one hum
dred thousand Norway spruces alone have
been set out In the past three years. OF
course, many Of these are to be sacri-
feed as they extend their branches. the
head forester explaining that this num-
ber was necessary to bring forth immedi
ate effect, as every hill top and knoll
has been studded with these dwarfed
evergreens.
The water works of the Duke estate Is
an institution in itself. Close to the
river Is q reservoir with a capacity of
twenty ave million gallons. This is con-
stantly fed by three rams. each with
daily capacity OF five million gallons.
The reservoir feeds the lakes, streams,
fountains and cascades. this water again
finding its way back to the river, for
number of cotton and woolen mills In
Raritan have, on more than one occasion,
been put out of commission when the
Duke fountains were in play, but this
new system of drainage has remedied all
this and now the waste that ensues is
only that of evaporation.
In his work Of beautifying his estate
Mr.. Duke has been ably assisted by his
outside Superintendent David J. Smith,
all the detail, however, falling to the lot
of Miss Agnes McWilliams, Mr.. Dukes
secretary Smith oversees the work, but
in reality Miss McWilliams Is the master
mind which plans 1t. From her hand
some office. which adjoins the stable, by
an ample telephone system Miss McWil-
GUS heads of Departmental, all of whom
report directly to her. While Mr.. Duke
is daily visitor to all parts of his es-
tate 1t Is only necessary for him to give
Miss McWilliams a suggestion as to the
work he wishes done, for its immediate
execution.
The barns on the Duke Farms are by no
means the least attractive features Of the
estate. Each Is ornamental in design,
covering wide area of floor space and
finished with care to detail one would
hardly expect to find In structures OF this
character. Three years ago Mr.. Duke es-
tabiished fine herd of Guernsey cattle
on this place Dukes milk and Dukes
butter were eagerly sought by New York
hotel men and the dairy yielded hand
some proft. but Mr.. Duke soon tired OF
his new plaything and the herd was dis
posed Of, only sufficient number of the
original cattle being retained to supply
the wants of those about the farm. While
his stables are quite as handsome as those
OF the most ardent lovers OF horse 1esh,
Mr. Duke does not go In for fancy horses
and of the thirty head that are main
tained for his own personal use there is
not a show horse among them. His equi-
pages are handsome but modest and run
more to comfort than to bizarre effect.
He has several auto cars, however, which
mode OF locomotton he seemingly prefers,
using one OF these In his daily trip to
and from the railroad station at Somer-
Vile.
The worknen regularly employed on
Dukes Farms are all provided with COM
Portable and picturesque little cottages
which are set about In groups, giving one
the impression that ne was Ia the midst
OF a modal Village.