Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1907-10-17

| arising to height of q hundred fsss,
! where gracefully sweeping and rich Royal
! palms spread their branches. The orcht0
house is a treat In itself, for therB can
| be found the rarest and costliest Of these
dainty blossoms. The head gardener has
q force of fifty men under him who 20
| nothing but care for the blossoms and
plants In the Conservatives and about
the lawns. Equally important Is the post
Of head forester whose crew IL kept
busily engaged trimming and pruning
the old and setting out new trees. Some
idea Of the magnitude of this work csn
be had when it is known that one hum
dred thousand Norway spruces alone hare
been set out In the past three years. OF
course, many of these are to be sacrs~
feed as they extend their branches, tia
head forester explaining that this nug-
Der was necessary TO bring forth immedA-
ate effect, as every hill top and knou
has been studded with these dwarfsd
evergreens.
The water works of the Duke estate is
an institution in itself. Close TO the
river is a reservoir with a capacity u
twenty Ave million gallons. This Ia 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 agnin
finding It's way back to the river, for
NUMBER COTTON anu WOOltu Hills 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 al
this and now the waste that ensues "a
only that of evaporation.
In his work of Identifying his estate
Mr.. Duke has been ably assisted by hk
outside superintendent David J. Smith
ali the detail, however falling to the iot
of Miss Agnes McWilliams, Mr.. Dukes
secretary. Smith oversees the work, bat
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 McWtl-
Hams Is In constant touch with the vart-
Gus heads of departments, all of whom
report directly to her. While Mr.. Duks
is daily visitor to all parts of his es-
tate 1t Is only necessary for him to give
Miss McWiliams 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 o. the
estate. Each is ornamental in design,
covering a wide area of floor space and
finished with q care to detail one would
hardly expect to find In structures o. thkA
character. Three years ago M. Duke e.
tabEished a fine herd of Guernsey cRttls
on this place Dukes milk and Dukes
hotel men and the dairy yielded hand
some profit, but Mr.. Duke soon tired Of
his new plaything and the herd was diA-
posed of, only a 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 flesh,
Mr. Duke does not go In for fancy horses
and of the thirty head that are main
tanned for his own personal use there is
not a show horse among them. His equi-
pages are handsome but modest, and rum
more to comfort than to bizarre effect
He has several auto cars, however, which
mode of locomotion be seemingly prefers,
using one Of these in his daily trip to
and from the railroad station at somsx-
Vile
The Torkmen regularly employed On
Dukes Farms are all provided with COM
Portable and picturesque little cottages
which are set about In groups, giving ons
the impression that he was In the midst
Of model village.