in the neighborhood of Ncic York and Philadelphia. 165 



to look at any part of the pleasure grounds, and we leii liiglily de- 

 lighted with oiu' visit. 



City residence of George Pejjper, Esq. — We are indebted to the 

 kindness of Mr. D. Landreth, jr., ibr the pleasure of an acquaintance 

 with Mr. Pepper, It is gratifying to see such a beautiful place as Mr. 

 Pepper's in the very heart of the city. His garden fronts on Ches- 

 nut street, and is laid out with much taste. The green-house was 

 the first one erected in Piiiladelphia, (as we have before stated,) and 

 is combined with a hot-house. Mr. Pepper's collection is quite 

 unique, and the number of plants which he grows in his green-house 

 is, we believe, upwards of twenty-five hundred. They were very 

 much crowded together, presenting one mass of foliage and bloom. 

 He intends enlarging it this season to nearly twice its present 

 size. 



Mr. Pepper's collection of Camellias is very excellent. He cul- 

 tivates above twenty-five varieties, among which are three or four 

 large double whites, which were covered with their lovely flowers. 

 We here saw a fine specimen of the Bletia Tankervillese. It had 

 three spikes, with eight or ten of its splendid flowers in full bloom. 

 In the centre of the house, towering above the other plants, stood a 

 magnificent plant of the Magnolia conspicua, profusely covered with 

 its exquisite flowers ; it was, we believe, the first ever brought 

 into the vicinity of Philadelphia. Here was also a fine Mandarin 

 orange, a large Yucca arborea, and a large plant of the Magnolia 

 pumila. In the hot-house department, which is raised on a stage at 

 the upper part of the green-house, running the whole length, but 

 separated from it by a partition, we noticed some fine specimens of 

 tropical plants ; among others was the Piper nigrum, (common Pep- 

 per,) the Ficus bengalensis, elastica and religiosa ; a fine plant of 

 the Latania borbunica, (Bourbon plum,) and the Pandanus spira- 

 lis. Mr. Pepper is quite an amateur, and his green-house displays 

 much taste in the arrangement of the plants. 



Residence of J. B. .Smith, Esq. — We were much disappointed, 

 in not finding Mr. Smith at home. We walked through his houses, 

 however, with his gardeners, and were astonished to see his very 

 numerous collections of Camellias, and in particular his tropical plants. 

 We should have been glad to have paid Mr. Smith's place another 

 visit, with the expectation that we should find him at home, but we 

 were unfortunately deprived of the opportunity. At the suggestion 

 of Mr. Landreth, that Mr. Smith would have no objection to our 

 making any remarks in regard to his plants, we hastily noted down 

 such things as appeared interesting. 



We do not hesitate to say, that Mr. Smith has one of the largest 

 and most choice collections of Camellias. We observed numerous 

 new varieties, and a large number quite choice and rare, which we 

 had never before seen in bloom. Among these were the following 

 kinds: — C. connata, colla, Carolus, venosa, Goussonia, and two or 



