The beauty and value of groups made nearly exclusively of North American 

 shrubs, are at this day so hij^hly appreciated in England, that the London Eoyal 

 Botanical Society established, some years ago, the American garden, in which the 

 trees and shrubs of America are cultivated to the exclusion of all others. The 

 beauty of this garden is so freely admitted, that many horticulturists avail them- 

 selves of the opportunity given, by the crowds which frequent it during the flower- 

 ing season, to exhibit any valuable or rare specimens which they may possess. 



They bring from a distance of thirty, forty, or fifty miles, specimens of Rhodo- 

 dendrons, Kalmias, and many other plants, far surpassing in beauty those of their 

 native climes, and proving the efficacy of a well directed and judicious system of 

 horticulture. In this country, the expenses necessary in Europe may be avoided, 

 for whilst, in England, a fine specimen of Kalmia latifolia is worth from ten to 

 twenty dollars, it may be here procured without any trouble, or scarcely any cost, 

 on the shores of the Hudson, or in any of the forests. 



Another advantage which accrues to the amateur is, that these plants, wdien 

 once transplanted, may be retransplanted annually without risk, and that they 

 admit of being forced without danger. 



Those most covered with flower buds are removed in autumn, and put into pots, 

 in which they are removed to conservatories to be forced. When judiciously 

 treated, they will flower as early as March, frequently in February. In May or 

 June, they may be restored to their original localities, and others may be taken 

 thence during the following year. 



[The foregoing essay, in a spirit of excellent taste, has been kindly furnished 

 us by Mr. Baumann, in French ; on making a translation, we are much pleased 

 with it, but must caution our friends at the North how they adopt all the plants 

 mentioned, some of which, we fear, might not be hardy ; but we can see no reason 

 wdiy those knoimi to stand our winters should not be thus employed ; the sugges- 

 tion of planting in the shady and unemployed parts of the garden, should be 

 remembered. — Ed.] 



VISITS TO COUNTKY PLACES, NO. 5. 



Hyde Park, seventy- five miles above New York, was formerly the residence of 

 Dr. Hosack, and well do we love to chronicle, late though it be, a visit there with 

 that noble specimen of a high-minded class of Irish gentlemen, the son-in-law of 

 the doctor. Jacob Harvey, Esq., was among the most ingenious, open-hearted, 

 excellent of men ; a humorist of the rarest talent, Mr. Harvey never failed to win 

 the heart of all with whom he came in contact. It was he who favored the public 

 with those remarkable reminiscences of John Randolph, with whom he made one 

 or two voyages to England. A mutual admiration and friendship ensued, and 

 more racy and entertaining matter than Harvey's recollections of the statesman 

 were never written. 



Hyde Park passed into the hands of the late "Walter Langdon, Esq., who mar- 

 ried a daughter of John Jacob Astor ; his son, of the same name, is now the 

 owner of what Downiug justly calls one of the finest specimens of landscape gar- 

 dening in America. The house is a most graceful and elegant mansion of the 

 composite order, with afarade of one hundred and fifty feet, designed and built 

 by Piatt, of New York, and finished in stucco. 



The number of acres, about one hundred and seventy, embraces fine drives, the 

 most superb river views, extending over sixty miles of the course of the 



