COHRESPONIiING JSDITOns : 



JOSIAH HOOPES, JAMES TAPLIN. 



VOL. 29. 



AUGUST, 18T4. 



l^O. 338. 



Ifilif^riil 



Shaw's G-ardens, St. Louis. 



BY HENKY J. AVILLIAMS. 



OF the various enterprises of the West, iden- 

 tified with ornamental gardening, the most 

 prominent which we have seen in our travels 

 is that of Shaw's G-ardens, St. 'Louis. As a 

 botanical garden it is perhaps the very best in 

 the West, as pains have been taken to gather 

 a large number of the best specimens of each 

 class of plants. But its celebrity has come 

 mainly from its popularity as a pleasure resort 

 for the citizens of the city. It bears the same 

 relative position in St. Louis among pleasure 

 lovers, as the Central Park in New York city, 

 or Woodward's Gardens in San Francisco. 

 Originally known as the Missouri Botanical 

 Garden, it was founded in 1858, by Henry 

 Shaw, Esq., a wealthy citizen of the city. 

 Possessing a love for rural ornament and gar- 

 dening, as well as being the owner of an im- 

 mense landed property on the outskirts of the 

 city, measured by the square mile or more, be 

 15 



began the formation of the garden, both for 

 personal amusement and yet with benevolent 

 purpose — to afford a good example in the en- 

 couragement of rural taste. It has grown in 

 his hands from small beginnings, until at last 

 it fills a space of no less than 110 acres. The 

 city has grown out to it ; its finest avenue now 

 skirts his property, and like many other places 

 of like beauty, it has passed from its beauty 

 as a private place to its form as a favored 

 resort for the public, and some time since was 

 presented by him to the city, and now is the 

 most acceptable place of enjoyment in the 

 vicinity. It is surrounded by a very high 

 and strong stone wall, and after passing the 

 porte, the horticulturist will, in making his tour 

 of observation, notice first the profusion of 

 shrubbery, which gather mostly in the beds at 

 the back-ground, near the wall. The place 

 inside is divided up into beds, paths and small 

 avenues, with an idea mainly to convenience 

 rather than picturesqueness or attempt at geo- 

 metrical gardening. Tall arbor vitaas stand 

 singly up and down the paths, from 15 to 20 

 feet high, and Norway spruces, .30 feet or 

 nwi-e, are exceedingly frequent, Iir^niediately 



