316 



THE GARDENER'S MONTHLY 



{October , 



matter to grow and arrange Rhododendrons and 

 Azaleas as Mr. Sargent has done. The Chinese 

 Azaleas are nearly hardy, and the Rhododen- 

 drons entirely so ; yet they are benefited by some 

 slight protection. Here pits are sunk in the 

 ground and covered with boards, and in these 

 pits the smaller plants are kept. The larger 

 ones are preserved in a sort of room , partly under 

 ground, and which keeps out nearly all the frost. 

 They are put into pots or boxes, and kept mider 

 these slight protections. When in flower they 

 are planted in masses on the lawn to suit their 

 sizes and colors, and those kept in pots sunk 

 in the ground, pots and all, the turf being 

 neatly re-laid over them. They are arranged 

 in graceful forms of beds, with smooth path- 

 ways threading through them, and the beds 

 edged with half circular sticks, plaited and 

 forced into the ground for the occasion. A 

 canvas tent, costing about $100, and which will 

 do over and over again for many years, finishes 

 the whole, and the exhibit is complete. All 

 the world went and admired the arrange- 

 ments and the exhibit of the Rhododendrons at 

 the Centennial, but this of one American gen- 

 tleman was finer than that— not in numbers, but 

 in beauty ; because the plants were larger. And 

 then there were the Azaleas, beautifully as well 

 as wonderfully grown. 



I should like to take the reader with me 

 through these beautiful grounds, with their suc- 

 cessive beds of lilies and roses, and many things 

 as sweet and fair; by their ponds and streams 

 and arbors and bridges, with their sunlight 

 gleams by day and moonlight shades by night. 

 In amongst the fruits and vegetables in the well- 

 kept garden, and over the lawns and by the 

 shrubbery belts, where an indefinite variety of 

 lieautiful trees and shrubs and flowers are to be 

 found. And above all, I should like to have 

 them go through the houses where grapes and 

 fruits are forced, where the agaves and succu- 

 lents are cared for, and where ferns and flow- 

 ers and colored-leaved plants are made to grow 

 with a vigor and freedom they scarcely knew of 

 even in their native lands. Further, if the veil 

 which divides from the outside world the sacred- 

 ness of an intelligent and happy home might 

 dare be lifted, I should like to tell the reader 

 how pleasant American country life might be 

 when two of kindred tastes meet and join in the 

 journey of life together. But the good reader 

 must be satisfied with a mere letter, and be con- 

 tent with the remark that a visit to these de- 



lightful grounds makes one wonder more than 

 ever that so comparatively few American gen- 

 tlemen at the present time incline to country 

 life. After all, mere seaside and watering place 

 shovF and fashion, like any other "rage," must 

 have their day. 



It would not do justice to these beautiful 

 grounds without a word in compliment to Mr. 

 Charles Saundei's, Mr. Sargent's gardener. By 

 what we could see here, he gives to an excellent 

 practical knowledge of his business the rarer 

 ability to manage men and proceed methodically 

 to work, and it gave me much pleasure to hear 

 him so well spoken of by his employer. Half 

 the pleasure of gardening consists in a good un- 

 derstanding between employer and employed, 

 and in the gardener endeavoring to meet his 

 employer's reasonable views. 



Uninteresting Xew Jersey.— S. M., New 

 York, says : "The most interesting articles in 

 the Gardener's Monthly are always your 

 travels. The trip in uninteresting iSTew Jersey 

 was most interesting." 



[" Uninteresting New Jersey " indeed ! What 

 have the Jerseymen to say to this? We say 

 nothing to the Jersey women, for it is remark- 

 able how many we find over the Union admira- 

 ble wives and mothers who have been "stolen" 

 from Jersey homes to enrich the community in 

 other States. This we fancy tells its own story 

 for them. But we really do think, and have 

 often thought, that the men of Jersey might do 

 more to make the beauty of their own State 

 known. — Eu. G. M.] 



Thanks. — Our best thanks are due to the 

 many bodies which have sent us complimentary 

 tickets to fairs and other pleasant gatherings 

 the past season. 



Bela Hubbard. — This well known horticul- 

 turist, of Detroit, has experienced a severe 

 afftiction in the loss of his two sons — Robert, 

 aged 21, and Edwai-d K., 23 — by drowning in the 

 Detroit river on or about August 24th, for the 

 bodies were not found till almost unrecognizable. 

 They had come on from the South to avoid the 

 yellow fever. 



Daniel Barker. — Our readers will be pained 

 to hear of the death, by typhoid fever, of Mr. 

 Daniel Barker, of Norfolk, Virginia, whose fre- 

 quent notes on plants have so often interested 

 and profited them. This occurred in the early 

 part of the month, and we have no further par- 

 ticulars of his life and services as we write these 



