100 



THE GARDENER'S MONTHLY 



[Aprily 



roof extending almost to the ground in order, I 

 imagine, to allow the wind to slide over. On 

 our return to the city we called on the Rev. 

 Moses Harvey, pastor of the Scotch kirk, to 

 whom we had been referred as being the " brains 

 carrier of the island." We found him a very 

 pleasant gentleman. Next morning Mr. Harvey 

 called at the ship, and accompanied us to all 

 points in the town, among others the Roman 

 Catholic church, which is on the hill immediately 

 opposite the entrance of the harbor, and though 

 plain, is very large and contains many works of 

 art, som.e of which are very fine. The govern- 

 ment house was also visited and then that of 

 Mr. Murray, the gentleman in charge of the geo- 

 logical surveys now being made of the island. 

 Unfortunately he was absent on an expedition 

 into the interior, but we were very cordially re- 

 ceived by Mrs. Murray, and shown his extensive 

 collection of the minerals of Newfoundland; 

 from this we formed a much higher opinion of 

 the country than before. Copper, coal, iron, 

 nickel and gypsum are abundant. Mr. Murray's 

 "reports of progress" are full of information. 

 In the grounds of the governor's house we 

 noticed a lovely bit of lawn used as an archery 

 ground, sheltered on the north by a thickly 

 planted belt of ti-ees and shrubs. 



In the afternoon we drove out to the north of 

 the city, visiting a little fishing station at the 

 head of a narrow cove running in from Torbay. 

 The scene here is one of desolate grandeur •, a 

 small stream comes down from the interior 

 through a narrow valley, flowing out over a stony 

 beach of about one hundred yards in length, at 

 either end of which the cliffs rise perpendicularly 

 two hundred feet. The sea in the distance was 

 apparently motionless, its glossy surface unrutHed 

 by a single white cap, and yet, with nothing to 

 cause them but the ocean swell which rolls in, 

 with nothing to break its force from the western 

 shores of Ireland; the breakers were magnifl- 

 cient, spray dashing fully forty feet into the air. 

 What the scene would be were a strong easterly 

 wind blowing we left to our imagination. 



On our return we called to see a young lady 

 whose acquaintance we had made on the steamer. 

 On our expressing a desire to see the garden, we 

 were shown all over the place, and were aston- 

 ished at the result attained. The flower garden 

 was gay with the more hardy kinds of flowers, 

 among which I noticed some especially fine holly- 

 hocks, the most'brilliantly colored I ever saw. 

 The vegetable garden was as usual protected 



on the north and west by a belt of standard trees. 

 In it were dwarf pear and apple trees loaded with 

 fruit, gooseberries, currants, very fine cabbage, 

 turnips, celery and numerous frames which had 

 contained cucumbers and melons. I was sur- 

 prised at the skill displayed in this garden, and 

 thought it equal to anything I had seen else- 

 where, even, though the only result was a lot of 

 fine cabbage. Now this, it seems to me, dis- 

 played a much higher order of skill in gardenings 

 than the superb specimens of a fuchsia described! 

 by you as growing without protection on the 

 Isle of Wight. 



Six weeks after this I found myself in San An- 

 tonio, Texas. Here I expected to find examples 

 of semi-tropical gardening which would throw 

 us poor northerners completely in the shade ; in- 

 stead I saw nothing. At Marshall I noticed two 

 magnificent specimens of Gardenia, each at least 

 three and a half feet high by eight in circum- 

 ference, with fiowers two inches in diameter. I 

 however found plenty to admire in Texas, even 

 though disappointed in her gardens. Want of 

 time prevented my going to Galveston, where I 

 would probably have had my expectations 

 realized. 



EDITORIAL NOTES. 



Laot)SCAPe Cemeteries. — In Mr. Robin- 

 son's Parks and Gardens of Paris reference is 

 made to Laurel Hill Cemetery, Philadelphia, as 

 the first landscape cemetery established in the 

 United States. If mere rural cemeteries as dis- 

 tinguished from the common burial ground of 

 our forefathers be intended, there might be some 

 foundation for this claim, for Laural Hill fol- 

 lowed close after Mt. Auburn at Boston, which 

 has to have the honor of being chronologically 

 the first ; but as a true specimen of landscape 

 gardening in connection with human burial 

 grounds. Spring Grove Cemetery at Cincinnati 

 must take priority, and though dating back to 

 18-14 is still pre-eminent. In all that consti- 

 tutes true landscape gardening Spring Grove is 

 as far ahead of those which preceded it as they 

 were an advance on the church yard lots. 



In most of the cemeteries established prior to 

 Spring Grove, we find a great gain over old 

 habits in the introduction of trees, shrubs and 

 flowers, a few curved carriage paths or an occa- 

 sional seat or arbor where some distant view 

 may be quietlyexamined. The entrance to the 



