COUNTRY SEATS NEAR BOSTON. 



FURTHER NOTES ON COUNTRY SEATS NEAR BOSTON. 



BY HORTICOLA. 



Rose Hill, the residence of Thomas Page, Esq., near Waltham, a pretty country resi- 

 dence fast rising into repute in the horticultural world, and named in honor of the pro- 

 prietor's favorite flower, which he cultivates largely and successfully, sparing no expense 

 to obtain all the varieties worthy of cultivation. This place is situated on a gentle emi- 

 nence, and commands a beautiful prospect of the picturesque scenery for many miles around. 

 This part of the country is beautifully varied with wood and water, and admirably adapt- 

 ed for villas and villa gardens, and it is rather surprising that the vicinage of this pretty 

 suburb is not more employed for that purpose by the wealthy Bostonians. 



The mansion of Mr. Page is a neat and commodious structure with much interior com- 

 fort and convenience, but it has one radical fault. It is too little and too low for such a 

 commanding site, while the offices and outbuildings adjoining are too conspicuous. This 

 is a very prevalent defect about the Bostonian suburban villas, and nothing is more com- 

 mon than to see pretty Tuscan, or Gothic, or Italian villas, with a barn standing alongside, 

 of four times its size, out of all character and proportion. Mr. Page is fully aware of 

 this fault, and contemplates a thorough alteration, by which this feature will be entirely 

 done away with. Much has already been done on this bleak hill to change its original 

 aspect, and when all the improvements now in contemplation are completed, this will be 

 one of the prettiest suburban villa residences in the whole neighborhood of Boston. 



Among the recent improvements at Rose Hill, is the erection of a handsome green-house, 

 with a wing attached for the purpose of growing roses alone. This is one of the prettiest 

 green-houses about Boston; it is roomy and commodious, and we were informed by Mr. 

 Page, it is admirably adopted to the cultivation of plants. It is heated by hot water 

 pipes, and this winter has thoroughly tested their capacity of keeping Jack Frost at a 

 respectful distance. This house is now quite filled with a choice collection of all the dif- 

 ferent varieties of green-house plants, including a choice collection of Camellias. We ob- 

 served some fine large Azaleas in full flower, as well as Acacias also flowering splendid!}'. 

 The collections of Geranium, Cineraria, Calceolaria, Primula, &c., were very fine, and 

 some specimens exhibiting very superior skill in their cultivation. The other house was 

 filled chiefly with roses, in good condition, though rather backward, and not producing so 

 many blooms as we would like, but those produced were truly superb — especially the hy- 

 brid perpetuals, which Mr. Page grows largel}' in pots; among the rest Mr. P. showed us 

 J^urtune's five-colored rose, which, from the specimen there presented in full flower, we 

 are very much inclined to pronounce a complete humbug. The bud in embryo is just like 

 a monstrosity very common in the rose family, and when fully expanded, is little else than a 

 cluster of half developed leaves struggling for light. This is like many other much talked 

 of floricultural and horticultural importations, which come across the channel with high 

 sounding names, and nothing else. 



The residence of G. C. Lyman, Esq. This is a place of considerable note, and has in 

 its grounds many of the elements of a fine place, such as abundance of wood and water, 

 and a surface varied by undulations, with a river running through the grounds. The 

 mansion is apparently a series of after thoughts, and revised additions, possessing no pre- 

 tension to architectural taste or beauty, and seems to have been built, like many old fash 

 loned houses — bit b}' bit — as the family required them. It stands, compared wi 

 unding grounds, exceedingly low, without any prospect from itself, save of the 



