THE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY OF NEW YORK 



though after the Revolution, the informal and picturesque English 

 park was more frequently copied. The estates along the upper 

 Hudson, most of which were laid out after 1820, followed the 

 latter style. But the estates on Manhattan Island, between 1750 

 and 1800 made much of their gardens, and while they showed 

 strong American characteristics in retaining many of the rough 

 and rugged features, there is certainly no question that real design, 

 executed with superior taste, entered into their development. 



Situated in the midst of virgin forest groves, the first task was 

 that of thinning out the woodland and the creation of lawns and 

 meadows. The long approach driveway was carefully studied 

 and made a distinctive feature, with well designed gateway at the 

 main highway and rows of trees carefully planted along the en- 

 tire course. The gardens of these country places occupied very 

 large areas and consisted of flower, fruit and vegetable gardens, 

 generally located in conjunction with each other, though often 

 some distance from the house. Fruits were cultivated with great 

 care and interest and experimenting with exotic plants was quite a 

 fad. Men of wealth were able to acquire substantial libraries and 

 there were excellent books on landscape gardening in those days 

 as well as on architecture. The carpenters and builders then were 

 usually master-builders, with a fine sense of proportion and scale. 



The age of the botanical garden did not become mature until 

 toward the middle of the 19th century, but William Prince es- 

 tablished a nursery in Flushing, Long Island, as early as 1737, 

 which became of much general use, although the firm specialized 

 in fruit trees and did not form a collection of ornamental material 

 which amounted to much until late in the i8th century. Andre 

 Michaux (1746-1802) a French botanist, established a botanical 

 garden at Bergen, New Jersey, in 1785 (known as the "French- 

 man's Garden") and began the collection and cultivation of 

 American plants, and also imported material from Europf 



It is not certain just to what extent professional talent was used 

 in the improvement of country estates of the period. Previous 

 to the Revolution, and undoubtedly later, there are instances 

 where wealthy owners sent to Europe for some master gar- 

 dener or architect to assist them in the development of their 

 property. During the Revolution came from France with Eafay- 



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