THE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY OF NEW YORK 



early Dutch settlers. They were a substantial lot and lived in 

 dignity and propriety though perhaps without as much pomp and 

 show as had existed in the earlier era. There were then (early 

 19th Century) many country estates on the East and Hudson 

 Rivers and a few on Long Island. The City began to gradually 

 creep up toward the north, and to be in the country meant to be a 

 little further away from the Battery than a generation earlier. 



Timothy Dwight writes of Manhattan in 1820 as follows: "Art 

 has here beautified the surface and enriched the soil throughout 

 the southern half of the island. . . . about six miles of the 

 northern end are little cultivated. The remainder is set at small 

 distances with cheerful habitations, with well stocked gardens and 

 neat enclosures; while the heights and many of the lower grounds 

 contain a rich display of gentlemen's country seats, connected with 

 a great variety of handsome appendages. No part of the United 

 States has such a numerous collection of villas within so small a 

 compass, nor is any ride in the country made so cheerful by the 

 hand of art as the first six miles on the Bowery Road." 



The dwellings and country seats that were built during this 

 period up to 1840, at least, were undoubtedly genteel and in good 

 taste. The era of deterioration seems to have begun somewhere 

 near the middle of the Century, reaching its maximum height of bad 

 design, bad art and bad taste in the sixties and seventies. The 

 character of society itself changed and perhaps has never been 

 quite the same since. An old New Yorker writing in 1870 re- 

 marks of the olden time as follows : "There was in that day none 

 of the show and glitter of modern times; but with many of the 

 (New York) families. . . . (there was) an elegance which 

 has never been rivaled in other parts of the country," adding again 

 in a concluding paragraph as if to particularly impress the fact 

 upon his readers : "One thing is certain — that there was a high tone 

 prevailing at that time which is now nowhere seen." Perhaps it 

 may be more or less natural to look back upon the old times as 

 the best times, but nevertheless this cannot be wholly sentimental, 

 as the style and feelings of the times are quite naturally expressed 

 in the quality of art existing and most appreciated at the period. 

 Architectural and landscape design of the present day liave pro- 

 gressed far above that of the past two or three generations, x^s a 



478 



