the good taste shown in the arrangement of the grounds, the planting, and the 

 pretty English pastoral character of the views, as well as from the interior deco- 

 rations and embellishments of the house, most of which, we understand, were by 

 Mr. Peabody's own hands, and many of the cabinets, mantlepieces, &c., being 

 either actually carved by him, or designed and executed under his immediate 

 supervision, with a degree of excellence little inferior to the best German artists. 



Linmere, the residence of R. S. Fay, Esq. We well recollect, some years 

 since, Mr. Hovey's interesting description of the trees which Mr. Fay (then in 

 England) sent out, and many of which now must doubtless be fine specimens. 

 If we remember right, Linmere resem))les somewhat, in its general characteristics, 

 Mr. Hunuewell's place at Natick, only much larger, there being 500 acres or more 

 in the estate, mostly surrounding a lake; as yet Mr. Fay has not commenced his 

 improvements in building, having principally devoted himself to planting large 

 tracts of land and the various hillsides with larches, Scotch firs, &c., of which 

 many thousands have, we learn, been set out. If Mr. Fay builds a house and 

 carries out all his improvements, Linmere will resemble more entirely a large 

 Scotch estate than perhaps any place in this country, the natural character of the 

 lake and hills resembling portions of Scotch scenery, which will be still more 

 the case when the Scotch firs and larches become more effective. 



The residences of the late Col. Perkins, Gen. Lyman (now, we believe, in pos- 

 session of his son, and celebrated for its beautiful avenue, one of the finest in the 

 country), Mr. John E. Thayer's, with a very remarkal:>ly fine house, built by L^p- 

 john, James S. Amory's, Mr. J. L. Gardener's, should be enumerated, as well as 

 Mr. Lee's, whose lawn Mr. Downing celebrated so many years since; " Pine Bank," 

 the beauties of which a late number of Hovey's Magazine so well and ably de- 

 scribes, Ignatius Sargent's, celebrated for its grapes almost fabulous in size and 

 weight, "Belmont" (Mr. Cushing's), which all admirers of horticultural success 

 know so well. All these, and many more we had no time to see, or did see so im- 

 perfectly, that we shall postpone all description of them until we can do them better 

 justice. We cannot, however, omit saying, that for general excellence of cultiva- 

 tion, for universal good keeping, and the most distinguished success in all they 

 undertake, the residents of the environs of Boston still continue to bear away the 

 palm, as they have done for a quarter of a century. 



We paid a short visit to the Botanical Garden at Cambridge, which is under 

 the control and excellent management of the eminent botanist. Dr. Asa Gray, and 

 were extremely gratified with the order and neatness, no less than with the great 

 variety of plants and trees here assembled. These would be much more numerous 

 but for the impediment of climate, and yet, with this disadvantage, the student 

 will find here much that is new and interesting. 



We found Dr. Gray busily engaged in preparing a work on American trees for 

 the Smithsonian Institute — a book not yet announced, and one which, from the 

 difficulties of procuring correct engravings, and the accuracy which characterizes 

 all that Dr. Gray does, will, we presume, be a long time in execution. 



Hovey's Nurseries. — We called, on the way to Dr. Gray's, at the house of 

 Professor Longfellow; then visited the extensive nurseries of C. M. Hovey & 

 Co. Their pear-trees, both dwarf and standard, are among the best we have 

 ever seen, and produced fine results in 1856. Mr. Hovey is a firm believer in 

 dwarfs, and those who know him, know with what enthusiasm he enforces a favorite 

 theory. In the morning we had found him superintending a large show of fruits 

 and flowers in Boston at the weekly exhibition, and here he was again directing 

 superintending one of the most extensive commercial establishments in th 

 ion, one, indeed, that has exercised no inconsiderable influence on our cou 



