12 



HINTS TO RURAL IMPROVERS. 



within the reach of persons of moderate 

 fortunes, the environs of Boston afford the 

 finest examples in the Union. Averaging 

 from five to twenty acres, they are usually 

 laid out with taste, are well planted with a 

 large variety of trees and shrubs, and, 

 above all, are exquisitely kept. As a cot- 

 tage ornee, there are few places in Ame- 

 rica more perfect than the grounds of Col. 

 Pekkins, or of Thos. Lee, Esq., at Brook- 

 line, near Boston. The latter is especially re- 

 markable for the beauty of the lawn, and 

 the successful management of rare trees 

 and shrubs, and is a most excellent study 

 for the suburban landscape-gardener. There 

 are many other places in that neighborhood 

 abounding with interest ; but the great fea- 

 ture of the gardens of Boston lies rather 

 in their horticultural than their artistical 

 merit. In forcing and skillful cultivation, 

 they still rank before any other part of the 

 country. Mr. Cushing's residence, near 

 Watertown, has long been celebrated in 

 this respect. 



An amateur who wishes to study trees, 

 should visit the fine old places in the 

 neighborhood of Philadelphia. A couple 

 of days spent at the Bartram Garden, the 

 Hamilton Place, and many of the old es- 

 tates bordering the Schuylkill, Avill make 

 him familiar with rare and fine trees, such 

 as Salisburias, Magm>lias, Virgilias, etc., 

 of a size and beauty of growth that will not 

 only fill him with astonishment, but con- 

 vince him what effects may be produced 

 by planting. As a specimen of a cottage 

 residence of the first class, exquisitely 

 kept, there are also few examples in America 

 more perfect than Mrs. Camac's grounds, 

 four or five miles from Philadelphia. 



For landscape gardening, on a large 

 scale, and in its best sense, there are no 

 places in America which compare with 

 those on the east hank of the Hudson, 



between Hyde Park and the town of 

 Hudson. The extent of the grounds, and 

 their fine natural advantages of wood and 

 lawn, combined with their grand and beau- 

 tiful views, and the admirable manner ia 

 which these natural charms are heightened 

 by art, place them far before any other 

 residences in the United States in pictu- 

 resque beauty. In a strictly horticultu- 

 ral sense, they are, perhaps, as much in- 

 ferior to the best places about Boston as 

 they are superior to them in the beauty of 

 landscape gardening and picturesque effect. 



Among these places, those which enjoy 

 the highest reputation, are Montgomery 

 Place, the seat of Mrs. Edw'd Livingston, 

 Blithewood, the seat of R. Donaldson. 

 Esq., and Hyde Park, the seat of W. 

 Langdon, Esq. The first is remarkable for 

 its extent, for the wonderful variety of 

 scenery — wood, water, and gardenesque — 

 which it embraces, and for the excellent 

 general keeping of the grounds. The se- 

 cond is a fine illustration of great natural 

 beauty — a mingling of the graceful and 

 grand in scenery, — admirably treated and 

 heightened by art. Hyde Park is almost 

 too weW known to need more than a pass- 

 ing notice. It is a noble site, greatly en- 

 hanced in interest lately, by the erection 

 of a fine nev/ mansion. 



The student or am.ateur in landscape 

 gardening, who wishes to examine two 

 places as remarkable for breadth and dig- 

 nity of effect as any in America, will not 

 fail to go to the Livingston Manor, seven 

 miles east of Hudson, and to Rensselaer^ 

 wyck, a few miles above Alban}'', on the 

 eastern shore. The former has the best 

 kept and most extensive lawn in th© 

 Union ; and the latter, with five or six 

 miles of gravelled walks and drives, withia 

 its own boundaries, exhibits some of the 

 cleverest illustrations of nractical skill iiste 



