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FROM THE BRYANT ROOM ARCHIVES
By Myrna Sloam, ©May/June 2004
A View of the Mackay Estate by Stewart Donaldson
(Part II: The Greenhouse)
NOTE: This is the 2nd in an ongoing series of articles drawn
from the reminiscences of Stewart Donaldson (1907- 1994) which are on file in
the library's Local History Collection. Mr. Donaldson grew up on the former
Clarence Mackay estate, where his father was employed as coachman and chauffeur.
Most of the 600 acres that made up this estate are now part of the Village of
East Hills.
After you left the Casino you would travel down the road to the east, towards
the cross roads and [then] straight ahead to the greenhouse. On the way down
there was a road to the south (on your right) which led to the Polo stables
and dairy. At the greenhouse you would enter the yard between a hedge, and you
would [then] enter the potting shed, as it was called. In the potting shed there
was the soil bench where the plants were potted, closets for the storage of
watering cans, seeds, labels, records of plants and a toilet for the men. To
the right was the greenhouse forman's office. You passed through this office
to the propagating house, where the cuttings and seeds were started. From here
to the rose house. Here the temperature was kept at a range of 57 to 62 in winter.
Then you would go to the right, through another propagating house where mostly
seedlings were started, and then to the carnation and mum or snapdragon house.
In the spring sweet peas were grown
here, along with asparagus fern. The temperature of this house ranged from 52
to 57 degrees in the winter. You couldn't do much about summer temperatures.
In the propagating house the lower part of the benches were closed in, because the bottom of cuttings must be kept warm and the tops cool. The reason for this was to start root growth faster. They had no fancy "dips" or hormones in those days to start root growth faster. In the last house were the beautiful snapdragons, as well as chrysanthemums, and any other plant that required a cool growing temperature. In the greenhouses it was necessary, especially in the late summer, to light nicotine papers to destroy the aphis or aphids. This was called fumigating the house.
You would put a small rolled piece of nicotine paper in a clay flower pot, close the house up tightly, place probably 6 to 8 pots with nicotine papers in them along the concrete walks and light the paper and let them smoke. This was usually done about 4 PM (and on an overcast day) and left overnight. I used to like to light the papers and then run out of the house and watch it fill with smoke. The next morning the house would be aired and the pots collected. There were also liquid sprays. You had to mix your own ingredients and as I remember it, soap was used with most mixtures to make it stick or adhere to the leaves. As a boy it was an interesting place to be and I was lucky that I could be there.
Now, as you left these houses and returned to the potting shed, you turned again to your right and you entered the palm house. There were also orchids grown here. The temperature in this house was from 67 to 72 degrees in the winter. They used to white wash the glass in the summer to keep the temperature down. To the left and right of the palm house were two more rose houses, one on the north and one on the south side of the palm house. In the palm house were grown all types of tropical plants. This house always smelled so good and felt damp as you walked through it. Around the outside of the greenhouse the lawn was kept cut and the edges trimmed. It always had that clean "front yard" look.
As you left the greenhouse and started west again, you came to a road to the left which would take you to the polo stables and dairy, before you reached the crossroads. If you took this road, you would probably travel about 1000 feet before you reached the polo stables. But, if you went to the crossroads and turned to the left and traveled up the north drive, you would come to the front of the mansion after you crossed the stone arch bridge. ….to be continued in future editions of the Bryant Library Newsletter.
Permission to reproduce, publish or display whole
text articles must be obtained from the Bryant Library Archivist.
Email: localhistory@bryantlibrary.org