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FROM THE BRYANT ROOM ARCHIVES
By Myrna Sloam ©March/April 2007
A View of Mackay Estate, Part 11: The Greenhouses and Soil Preparation
by Stewart Donaldson, March/April, 2007
Note: This is the 11th in a continuing series taken from the memoirs of Stewart Donaldson (1907-1994) who grew up on the former Clarence H. Mackay Estate in what is now East Hills. Written in the early 1960s, Mr. Donaldson, the son of a coachman/chauffeur donated these memoirs to the Bryant Library Local History Collection.
There were many interesting things, to me that is, about the greenhouses.
First- The watering was usually done in the morning, on a sunny day. You did not water if it was cloudy or overcast. When you watered, you sprayed the foliage, as well as watering the soil well. You did not water in the greenhouse every day, only when the plants needed it. This was all in the know-how of the profession.
Second- When the flower buds appeared it was necessary to feed the plants. If it was done too early you got heavy leaf growth. If it was too late, you wasted the food. Also, is the temperature was not controlled and kept in the proper range, you would either get long weak stems, or if they became too cold the plants might mildew and rot off, etc. In those days you applied your own nitrogen, blood, soot, bone meal and any other type of food.
Third- Another phase of the green house work was the proper controlling of pests. And, fumigating was a very important item. Earlier in this article I mentioned how we set up and lit the nicotine papers in flowers pots, and let them smoke over night. There was also of course, the wet spray type of controls.
Fourth- Probably the most important item of all was the selection and preparation of the soil to be put in the benches of the greenhouses. This was quite a ritual. Frank Demak [Head Gardener] would go out into the fields and select a certain spot of earth. This was somewhere south of the greenhouses in the open fields. The grass or hay would be cut off and then sods cut by hand. These were loaded on a flat wagon (John Jan[n]otta’s) and taken to a location north of the bay tree house. Here a pile of prepared earth about 50 feet long, by 8 feet wide, by probably 4 or 5 feet deep, was built with the sides sloping from top to bottom in the following manner: Two layers of sod, each sod was about 4 inches thick, then a layer of cow manure (well rotted) then a light sprinkling of lime and a sprinkling of bone meal and dried blood. This was continued until the mound was completed. Now the pile was allowed to “sleep” for a year.
How the weeds would grow on the sides and top of this pile! The next year the pile would be turned over and cut up and a new mound made adjacent to the old one. As the earth was being relocated and turned over, more dried blood, bone meal and probably a little lime [was] added. Then the pile was allowed to “sleep” again for another year. A new dirt pile was started each year and allowed 3 years to cure. The third year, and the same procedure. Men with shovels turned the pile again, back to the original spot…. Then, usually in July or August of the third year, the old dirt was removed from the benches [in the greenhouses] and this new soil was put in. This dirt was put in “chunky” as it was cut with the shovels, never sieved and the bench was filled to about even with the top of the bench. When it settled, it would be about 1 inch or so below the top of the bench. After a week or two the new plants, whether they [were] roses, carnations, chrysanthemums, sweet peas, or what have you, [were] all planted in the same prepared soil as above.
Remember, new dirt piles were started each year. Now you can see what an extensive job this greenhouse business is. You just don’t grab a shovel full of soil and put a plant in it. It has to be right to get the best results. I never remember Frank Demak taking a vacation. He was a bachelor, lived over the potting shed, taking his meals at Lizzie Huers in North Roslyn. He worked 7 days a week, 365 days a year. I really never remember him leaving Roslyn. About the only place he would go was [to] the bank to deposit his dividend checks. He owned many stocks.
One thing you must always remember when working in the greenhouses—NEVER pull a weed or disbud a bloom and throw it in the bed or on the walk of the greenhouses…. This was a cardinal sin. The men wore aprons with pockets in them and when they disbudded or pulled weeds, they put them in the large pockets of the aprons. The greenhouses were about 18 feet wide and maybe 40 feet long. The lower part of the houses was brick veneer for about 3 feet up from the ground. Climbing on the brick wall portion was a vine called euonymous, variegated leaf. This made a pretty appearance.
The architecture of the [out] buildings on the estate was alike, that is, the dairy, barns, polo stables, potting sheds at the greenhouse and the kennels. There [were] brick corners combined with shingles and some red brick panels. On the brick part of the buildings grew a vine called Virginia creeper and sometimes called woodbine or American ivy. It had bluish-black berries.
To be continued in future library newsletters….
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Email: localhistory@bryantlibrary.org