22 Landscape Gardening 



and shrubs, and then winding by the shadowy banks of the 

 water; the soft and quiet character of the lake itself, - 

 its margin richly fringed with trees, which conceal here and 

 there a pretty cottage, its firm clean beach of gravel, and 

 its water of crystal purity; all these features make this 

 place a little gem of natural and artistical harmony, and 

 beauty. Mr. Perkins has just rebuilt the house, in the 

 style of a French maison de campagne; and Pine Bank is 

 now adorned with a most complete residence in the latest 

 continental taste, from the designs of M. Lemoulnier.* 



On the other side of the lake is the cottage of Thomas 

 Lee, Esq. Enthusiastically fond of botany, and gardening 

 in all its departments, Mr. Lee has here formed a residence 

 of as much variety and interest as we ever saw in so mod- 

 erate a compass - - about 20 acres. It is, indeed, not only 

 a most instructive place to the amateur of landscape gard- 

 ening, but to the naturalist and lover of plants. Every 

 shrub seems placed precisely in the soil and aspect it likes 

 best, and native and foreign Rhododendrons, Kalmias, and 

 other rare shrubs, are seen here in the finest condition. 

 There is a great deal of variety in the surface here, and 

 while the lawn-front of the house has a polished and grace- 

 ful air, one or two other portions are quite picturesque. 

 Near the entrance gate is an English oak, only fourteen 

 years planted, now forty feet high. 



The whole of this neighborhood of Brookline is a kind of 

 landscape garden, and there is nothing in America, of the 

 sort, so inexpressibly charming as the lanes which lead from 

 one cottage, or villa, to another. No animals are allowed 

 to run at large, and the open gates, with tempting vistas 

 and glimpses under the pendent boughs, give it quite an 

 Arcadian air of rural freedom and enjoyment. These lanes 

 are clothed with a profusion of trees and wild shrubbery, 

 often almost to the carriage tracks, and curve and wind 

 about, in a manner quite bewildering to the stranger who 

 attempts to thread them alone; and there are more hints 



The beautiful grounds of Pine Bank are now a part of the Boston 

 city park system. F. A. W. 



