258 



./.\/> g\ia'D/':a7-:a".s MoxriiLV 



\^S,pt('mlH\ 



and Wocpinsi Larch.shiiKliiiLr tni^iilicr, Imvt- cadi 

 its (lilVfront >lia(li'. At tlii' loot of the Purple 

 lieeeh lies a jn-ostrale Juniper, trained to a 

 height ol't'iiilit I'eet and llieii allowed to tail upon 

 tlie <;round. Al)irs polila. "NVeopinj; Silver Fir. 

 ■\Veei>inLr S|iruie and Jajian Yew loi'in a pic- 

 tures(|ue irroup. The liirhl and (liii()])in<j; Silver 

 I^inden, thirl\-(ive feet hi;:h, is llankcd by an 

 Atlas Cedar of darker shade, which in its turn 

 contrasts with a I.i(|uidainl)ar, forty feet, and 

 Pinus exeelsa, forty feet. AVeeping and Euro- 

 pean Beech, whose j'oung foliage is light and 

 very beautiful, contrast tinely against Xorway 

 Spruce and Austrian Pine. 



A iri'ove of Horse Chestnuts, Maples, Elms and 

 Tulips, planted fifty years ago. make a feature 

 by themselves, while against them gleams the 

 auburn hair of the Purple Fringe. The very 

 light Ash-leaved Maple stands between an 

 Austrian Pine and Xorway Spruce, all some 

 thirty years old. 



Against a Hemlock screen the young shoots 

 of which lie like tlowers upon its dark face, are 

 shown the brilliant scarlet bloom of a group of 

 Ehododendron Blandyanum, which I brought 

 from England eighteen years ago. Against 

 another part of the Hemlock screen is a mass of 

 large Golden Yews jnd a white Fringe, both 

 unsurpassed in their beauty. The pink flowers of 

 the African Tamarisk and the white ones of the 

 Hawthorn make a charming contrast blooming 

 together. In front of the Tamarisk is the Japan 

 Judas Tree, one of the most brilliant of early 

 flowering trees. A Pyramidal Oak sets off the 

 Xorway Maple. Golden Spinea and Purple Ber- 

 berrj' are striking in contrast. Purple Hazel 

 and Japan Snowball make a pair; and a trio of 

 relatives are Crested Beech, Fern-leaf Beech and 

 Hornbean. A large AVhite Fringe is guarded 

 by three erect Y'ews, and some large English 

 Yews, fifteen feet high and fifteen broad, show 

 their hardiness. Two charming trees, the Cilician 

 Fir and the Japan Larch twenty-five feet, have 

 each its distinctive color, while the Abies alata, 

 twenty-tive feet high, spreads its giant wings 

 over a Golden Y'^ew, with a head five feet in 

 diameter, on a naked stem five feet high — a 

 golden globe on a pedestal of bronze. The dark 

 Pinus uncinata stands against the lighter Spruce, 

 against which is also relieved the bright pink 

 flowers of the Judas Tree. Horizontal Yew and 

 Hudson's Bay Fir, both dwarfs, look well 

 together. Magnolia Xorbertiana shows its 

 flowers well against the Stone Pine. A Picea 



eephaloniia, thirty feet high, contrasts well' 

 with the llemloek. A weeping, Slipjiery Elm 

 and a Tamarix are graceful, one for its branches 

 and tlu' olhi-r for its llowers. A White Spruce 

 and an Atlas Cedar look well together while a 

 White Linden, thirty-five feet high shows well 

 against a group of Hornbeam forty feot high. A 

 row of Pinus excelsa, sixty feet high, is fronted' 

 by a dozen species of American Oaks, sixty feet,, 

 l)lanted at sullicient distance from each other to 

 develope their true beauty. A White Pine, sixty 

 feet high stands alone, and under it there can be 

 heard the music of its leaves. Andromeda 

 arborea is a mass by itself, and few things sur- 

 pass the delicate burnished copper hue of its 

 young leaves, or the brilliant scarlet of its- 

 autumnal clothing. Groups of Rhododendrons 

 of ditferent colors have their beauty enhanced' 

 by an edging of hardy Azaleas, whose ricli and 

 varied colors excite general admiration. Weep- 

 ing Hemlock, like an evergreen fountain, and 

 Weeping Silver Fir, like an evergreen colunm,. 

 surmount the rock work, while Weeping Sophora 

 and Weeping Forsythia overhang its sides.. 

 On one corner of my piazza is a Kentucky 

 Coffee, and on the other a Yellow Magnolia, 

 while at their feet grow a dwarf Scotch Fir and' 

 a dwarf White Pine. On the cornice of the 

 piazza are trained, as lambrequins, white and 

 purple Wistarias, Honeysuckles, Akebia and. 

 Virginia Creeper. The latter throws down its- 

 points from the cornice, making in Summer a 

 very attractive green fringe and in the Autumn 

 a very brilliant scarlet one. On a fence in the 

 rear grow Ilonysuckles, Akebias, Dutchman's 

 Pipe, Trumpet Creeper, both red and orange, 

 Bittersweet and Wistarias in luxuriant regai'd- 

 lessness of each other's rights, while the pure 

 Lilies of the Valle}' hang their modest heads on 

 the ground below. Over the lawn an occasional 

 Agave, a bed of scarlet Geraniums, of Coleus, 

 of variegated Arundo, of scarlet Salvias, or 

 more charming than all else, the new Japan 

 Maples, relieve the sameness of the refreshing 

 green turf. I should not forget an old White Oak, 

 one of two upon my farm, which were doubtless 

 here when Columbus discovered America, for one 

 of the same apparent generation , which fell a few 

 3'ears since, showed in its trunk the successsive 

 growths of nearly GOO years. This tree, now in 

 vigor, has a trunk twenty feet in circumference., 

 and its branches cover a diameter of seventy 

 feet. 

 In laying out streets I found it difficult to se-- 



