504 



THE niUIT GARDEN AT WODENETIIE. 



•whetluT cast or west, are interested in ac- 

 counts of gooil I'ullivation of fruit, we 

 must beg them to pardon us while we give 

 them a peep into the fruit-garden of our 

 neighbor, Henry Winthrop Sargent, Esq. 

 (see Frontispiece.) His residence is in 

 Dutchess county, on the east bank of the 

 Hudson, nearly opposite us, and 60 miles 

 from New-York. Of the grounds, in an or- 

 namental point of view, we may, perhaps, 

 speak hereafter. At the present moment, 

 we have only sufficient space for one portion 

 of his place — the Fruit-Garden. 



The fruit-garden at Wodenethe is a pa- 

 rallelogram, containing about two acres. It 

 has been the aim of Mr. Sargent, who is 

 a truly zealous amateur, to assemble in it a 

 collection composed of every ver^j choice 

 variety of fruit known, and to reject all that 

 were either known, or believed to be second 

 rate. The selection has been made with 

 the greatest care, from the best American 

 and European sources, and it undoubtedly 

 may be considered as the choicest and most 

 complete private fruit-garden on the Hudson, 

 and one of the best in the Union. Many of 

 the trees were in fine bearing last season, 

 and the largest part of them will probably 

 give good crops this j'ear. 



Varieties. 



Of the choicest pears the garden contains 106 



AjypUs in anollier part of the grounds. 



Besides these, there is a Vinery, 120 feet 

 long, 20 feet wide and 13 feet high — a very 

 light and handsome glazed structure, with 

 a currilinear, span roof. This house con- 

 tains 85 vines, of the finest foreign grapes, 

 in 31 varieties — as well as figs, apricots and 

 nectarines. 



Our Frontispiece gives a glimpse of this 

 Viiiery, at the termination of the main walk 

 of the fruit-garden. This walk is 428 feet 

 long, and is bordered with an espalier rail, 

 upon which many of the choicest peaches, 

 grapes, plums, etc., are trained — not from 

 necessity or for greater protection, as in gar- 

 dens farther north, for all those fruits ripen 

 perfectly on common standards here, but to 

 give an illustration of this more perfect 

 kind of culture, and to obtain fruit of a 

 larger size and higher color than standards 

 usually produce. 



The soil of this garden is a gravelly loam, 

 and it was thoroughly trenched, 3 feet deep, 

 before the trees were planted. The advan- 

 tages of this are apparent at a glance, in 

 the healthy appearance of the trees, and the 

 steady and uniform growth which they have 

 made, ever since they were planted — even 

 during the great drouth of 1844. 



Among the rare pears, we noticed Colmar 

 d'Aremberg, Duchesse d^Orleans, Beurrt 

 Moire, Broom Park, Soldat Laboreur, and 

 others of the latest celebrity in the collec- 

 tions of France and England. 



The Columbia plum has borne very su- 

 perb fruit at WoDENETiiE. We saw speci- 

 mens there, last September, which measured 

 six inches in circumference. Royal Ilntive, 

 Large Green Drying, Jeffersov, and many 

 other fine sorts are showing fruit buds the 

 present season. Amongst the native grapes 

 are the Ohio, Norloii's Seedli?ig, Diana, 

 Skurtleff^s Seedling, etc. 



It would be difRcult to say which, of all 



