1879.1 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



315 



henceforth the Professorship of Arboriculture 

 here to occupy his sole attention. The collec- 

 tion of hardy trees and shrubs for the future 

 arboretum has already been going on for a few 

 years past, and an immense number have been 

 gathered together, leaving very few desiderata 

 able to endure Boston winters. These arc ar- 

 ranged for the present in what might be called 

 rather wide nursery rows, each having room 

 enough for four or five years growth. 



The grounds for the future arboretum have 

 been left by will for tlie purpose, but if a com- 

 mittee had been appointed by some learned 

 body to select a site, it is doubtful whether one 

 could be found better suited to the purpose. 

 There is level land, and again land so steep that 

 to my ceitain knowledge it took 210 flos of hu- 

 man flesh and bones an "awful" while to ascend 

 it. There are rocks and hills and streams, open 

 places and deep shaded woods, grand old trees 

 already there, and vigorous young saplings. 

 Only that my cup is already full, I could envy 

 Professor Sargent the sweet draught of pleasure 

 that in his Professorship here lies before him. 

 In some hands I should fear the great natural 

 beauties might be spoiled by some fancied de- 

 mands of science. The water lily and the tulip 

 tree, the swamp tree and the tree from the high 

 and exposed rocky hill, — all would have to be 

 brought into close association, for behold, are 

 they not found so on some herbarium shelves! 

 But I hope that here they will be put where 

 they will flourish best, and where they will look 

 best; where they will add to the beauty already 

 here, and to the pleasure of thousands in that 

 beauty ; and that scientific arrangement will be 

 left to the scientific works which, at any rate, 

 the student must study, merely numbering and 

 mapping all, that with guide book in hand, the 

 student may readily find the thing he wants. 



Professor Sargent's beautiful grounds come 

 next in order. These are at Brookline, about 

 four miles from the heart of Boston. It is dif- 

 ficult to realize this fact while walking over the 

 nicely kept lawns or sitting under the shade of 

 the beechen trees. There is no one so happy as 

 the person who can be alone with his own 

 thoughts at any time he chooses to be, and then 

 at once mix in the busy world if he will. One 

 does not want to be always alone, nor always 

 under other people's eyes. My idea of a garden 

 is something to retire to and enjoy by one's self, 

 or with one's personal friends; with the whole 

 world, for the time being, out of sight and out 



of mind. Seldom have I visited a place so near 

 my own ideal — the perfect rus in urbe — to be 

 alone with nature and art as long as you desire, 

 and to be again amongst men almost at will. 



But though I sit and enjoy the cool of the 

 woods and the lovely landscapes which, over 

 this tract of 150 acres, meet the eye and attract 

 the senses at every view, and walch the evening- 

 shadows as they are reflected on the beauliful 

 lakes or deepen behind clumps and masses of 

 trees in the wake of the setting sun, I am not 

 left to believe that I have been transported by 

 some fairy hands to distant Elysian fields and 

 bov.'ers, among which only the very few who are 

 perfectl}' virtuous are destined to live ; for hun- 

 dreds of carriages, driving around the graceful 

 curves of the beautiful roads, tell me that 

 their occupants cannot be far away from some 

 large place in which weak and weary human 

 nature is doomed to dwell. They are returning 

 home from a visit to the beautiful Azaleas and 

 Rhododendrons, whicli the excellent proprietor 

 and the estimable lady his wife are only too 

 happy should be enjoyed by all as well as them- 

 selves. It was like a country fair, only with this 

 diff'erence, that here all who were visitors were 

 of that class who had traveled; who had seen all 

 the sights ; who had come to believe that there 

 was nothing more in nature or art for them to 

 know, — and yet were they here amazed and 

 pleased beyond measure with what Horticulture 

 placed before them. As I sat in the shadows of 

 that summer evening, and saw these hundreds 

 wending their way homewards chatting with a 

 pleasant animation over the gorgeous beauties 

 they had seen, I could not help but look into the 

 future and imagine the many beautiful gardens 

 and grounds which the example of these gener- 

 ous people would inspire into existence ; and I 

 turned then to the past, where I saw nursery- 

 men in the shadows wondering and lamenting 

 that no visitors came to their grounds, and that 

 for the tree peddler only did the modern planter 

 care. And again I saw Horticultural societies 

 with loads of debt, with exhibitions made up of 

 mere husks of swine, with the absolute refuse of 

 florists' greenhouses, depending on a flourish of 

 trumpets and mountebank shows in order to give 

 the public the full worth of the entrance fees. 

 I have never lost faith that Horticultural excel- 

 lence will ever attract intelligent people. If 

 my faith had ever weakened, it would have 

 sprung into as strong life as ever after what I 

 had seen here that day. And it is a very simple 



