18 Landscape Gardening 



tage, are conducted among the picturesque dells and banks, 

 is precisely what one would look for here. A little below, 

 Mr. Sheldon's cottage (now Mr. Hoag's), with its pretty 

 lawn and its charming brook, is one of the best specimens 

 of this kind of residence on the river. At Hastings, four 

 or five miles south, is the agreeable seat of Robt. B. Min- 

 lurn, Esq. 



About twelve miles from New York, on the Sound, is 

 Hunter's Island, the seat of John Hunter, Esq., a place of 

 much simplicity and dignity of character. The whole island 

 may be considered an extensive park carpeted with soft 

 lawn, and studded with noble trees. The mansion is simple 

 in its exterior, but internally, is filled with rich treasures of 

 art. The seat of James Munroe, Esq., on the East river 

 in this neighborhood, abounds with beautiful trees, and 

 many other features of interest. 



The Cottage residence of William H. Aspinwall, Esq., on 

 Staten Island, is a highly picturesque specimen of Land- 

 scape Gardening. The house is in the English cottage 

 style, and from its open lawn in front, the eye takes in a 

 wide view of the ocean, the Narrows, and the blue hills of 

 Neversink. In the rear of the cottage, the surface is much 

 broken and varied, and finely wooded and planted. In 

 improving this picturesque site, a nice sense of the charm 

 of natural expression has been evinced; and the sudden 

 variations from smooth open surface, to wild wooden banks, 

 with rocky, moss-covered flights of steps, strike the stranger 

 equally with surprise and delight. A charming greenhouse, 

 a knotted flower-garden, and a pretty, rustic moss-house, 

 are among the interesting points of this spirited place. 



The seat of the Wadsworth family, at Geneseo, is the 

 finest in the interior of the state of New York. Nothing, 

 indeed, can well be more magnificent than the meadow park 

 at Geneseo. It is more than a thousand acres in extent, 

 lying on each side of the Genesee river, and is filled with 

 thousands of the noblest oaks and elms, many of which, 

 but more especially the oaks, are such trees as we see in the 

 pictures of Claude, or our own Durand; richly developed, 



