42 LANDSCAPE GARDENING. 



Philadelphia, was, so long ago as 1805, highly celebratea 

 for its gardening beauties. The refined taste and the 

 wealth of its accomplished owner, were freely lavished in 

 its improvement and embellishment ; and at a time when 

 the introduction of rare exotics was attended with a vast 

 deal of risk and trouble, the extensive green-houses and 

 orangeries of this seat contained all the richest treasures 

 of the exotic flora, and among other excellent gardeners 

 employed, was the distinguished botanist Pursh, whose 

 enthusiastic taste in his favorite science was promoted and 

 aided by Mr. Hamilton. The extensive pleasure grounds 

 were judiciously planted, singly and in groups, with a 

 great variety of the finest species of trees. The attention 

 of the visitor to this place is now arrested by two very 

 large specimens of that curious tree, the Japanese Ginko 

 {Salishuria), 60 or 70 feet high, perhaps the finest in 

 Europe or America, by the noble magnolias, and the rich 

 park-like appearance of some of the plantations of the 

 finest native and foreign oaks. From the recent un- 

 healthiness of this portion of the Schuylkill, Woodlands 

 has fallen into decay, but there can be no question that it 

 was, for a long time, the most tasteful and beautiful 

 residence in America. 



The seat of the late Judge Peters, about five miles from 

 Philadelphia, was, 30 years ago, a noted specimen of the 

 ancient school of landscape gardening. Its proprietor had 

 a most extended reputation as a scientific agriculturist, 

 and his place was also no less remarkable for the design 

 and culture of its pleasure-grounds, than for the excellence 

 of its farm. Long and stately avenues, with vistas 

 terminated by obelisks, a garden adorned with marble 

 vases, busts, and statues, and pleasure grounds filled with 



