The North Meadows.
The entire area has been handled most sympathetically by those in charge of the architectural features of the Garden. The buildings were erected in the more open western part of the grounds, which offered the least valuable landscape features, and the surface around them has been improved by plantings. The natural beauties of the tract have been most zealously guarded from disturbances of all kinds. The attractive panoramas of wild woodland and stream offered to the artist and lover of nature have been left absolutely untouched, but made more valuable by increased ease and safety of access.
A number of special biological groups of plants have been established in suitable places in various parts of the Garden. The trees are in the arboretum east of the Bronx on the side and summit of a long ridge; unassorted and reserve material of all kinds is kept in the nurseries on the eastern slope of the same ridge; the salicetum is established on the border of the marsh in the northern end of the Garden, giving the willows and poplars the conditions under which they grow best. The fruticetum occupies an adjoining upland plain underlaid with gravel to a depth of twenty feet, affording space for the cultivation of a large number of shrubs, while the conifers are located on slopes to the westward of the hemlock forest. The viticetum is along the western edge of the forest, and the trellises of logs and timbers, extending for a length of six hundred feet, give suitable support to the vines. The herbaceous plantation occupies an open glade to the westward of the forest, and lies between two granite ridges. It is traversed through the middle by a small stream widened at places into lagoons for aquatic forms. About twenty-two hundred species are now in cultivation in this plantation. The wide border plantations which are established along the boundaries also offer opportunities for the growth of a great variety of trees, herbs and shrubs.
The Waterfall.
The horticultural houses, also erected by the City for the Garden, are located in the western part of the grounds at some distance to the south of, and facing, the museum. A palm-house, with a total height of dome of ninety feet, is the central feature, from which lower ranges extend on either side, making a total length of front of five hundred and twelve feet. The horticultural houses, as well as the museum, are heated by steam furnished by a power house beside the railroad on the extreme edge of the Garden.
The collections of living plants in the plantations are arranged in the same system as the synoptic collection in the museum. Every plantation contains species of similar habit, and the horticultural houses are used for the cultivation of forms which may not endure the outdoor climate of this locality. Not only are the plants from warmer zones grown under glass, but when it is desired to develop native species out of their season, they may be forced and brought to full development and bloom in the winter.
In the Herbaceous Plantation.