5S 



MR. TUDOR'S GARDEN AT NAHANT. 



of cultivation adopted, we found Yt. Tu- I there by tall trellis fences of the fame Idnr^, 



dor's garden in a more flourishing condition 

 than any one of the celebrated places about 

 Boston. The average growth of the thrif- 

 tiest standard fruit trees about Boston, at 

 that time, was little more than six inches to 

 a foot. In this Nahant garden it was two 

 feet, and we measured shoots on some of 

 the standard trees three feet in length. By 

 far the largest and finest cherries Ave tasted 

 that season, were from trees growing there, 

 and there was an apparent health and vigor 

 about every species Avithin its boundary, 

 which would have been creditable anywhere, 

 but Avhich at Nahant, and in a season so 

 unfavorable, quite astonished us. 



all of which help to increase the shelter, 

 while some of those in the interior serve as 

 frames for training trees upon. 



The effect of this double or triple barrier 

 of high paling is marvellous. Although 

 like a common paling, apparently open and 

 permitting the wind free passage, yet in 

 practice it is found entirely to rob the gales 

 of their violence, and their saltness. To 

 use Mr. Tudok's words, " it completely sifts 

 the air." After great storms, when the 

 outer barrier will be found covered with a 

 coating of salt, the foliage in the garden is 

 entirely uninjured. It acts, in short, like a 

 rustic veil, that admits just so much of the 



The two strong points in this gentleman's air, and in such a manner as most to pro- 



gardening operations at Nahant, appear to 

 us to be the following : First, the employ- 

 ment of screens to break the force of the 

 wind, producing thereby an artificial climate; 

 and second, the thorough preparation of the 

 soil by trenching and manuring. 



Of course, even the idea of a place wor- 

 thy of the name of a garden in this bald, 

 sea-girt cape, was out of the question, un- 

 less some mode of overcoming the violence 

 of the gales and the bad effects of the salt 

 spray, could be devised. The plan Mr. 

 Tudor has adopted is, we believe, original 

 with him, and is at once extremely simple, 

 and perfectly effective. 



It consists merely of two, or at most three 

 parallel rows of high open fences, made of 

 rough slats or palings, nailed in the com- 

 mon vertical manner, about three inches 

 wide, and a space of a couple of inches left 

 between them. These paling fences are 

 about sixteen feet high, and usually form a 

 double row, (on the most exposed side a tri- 

 ple row,) round the whole garden. The 

 distance between that on the outer boundary 

 and the next interior one is about four feet. 

 The garden is also intersected here and 



mote the growth of the trees, while it breaks 

 and wards off all the deleterious influences 

 of a genuine ocean breeze — so pernicious 

 to tender leaves and shoots. 



Again, regarding the luxuriant growth, 

 which surprised us in a place naturally a 

 sterile gravel, we were greatly struck with 

 the additional argument which it furnished 

 us with in support of our favorite theory of 

 the value of trenching in this climate. Mr. 

 Tudor has, at incredible labor, trenched and 

 manured the soil of his garden three feet 

 deep. The consequence of this is, thai, al- 

 though it is mainly of a light porous texture, 

 yet the depth to which it has been stirred and 

 cultivated, renders it proof against the ef- 

 fects of drouth. In the hottest and driest 

 seasons, the growth here is luxuriant, and 

 no better proof can be desired of the great 

 value of thoroughly trenching, as the first 

 and indispensable foundation of all good 

 culture, even in thin and poor soils. 



It is worthy of record, among the results 

 of Mr. Tudor's culture, that, two years af- 

 ter the principal plantation of his fruit trees 

 was made, he carried oft^the second prize for 

 pears, at the annual exhibition of the Mas- 



