NEW AMSTERDAM GARDENS 79 



the arrival of William of Orange to feel the influence 

 of Dutch design on her gardens. 



The "great tree, coeval with some beloved member 

 of the family" which is spoken of as usually growing 

 before the door of the house in other Dutch settle- 

 ments, is nowhere mentioned in accounts of New Ams- 

 terdam, neither is it indicated on either of the 

 bouweries illustrated. Such a custom can hardly 

 have been confined to one or two settlements, how- 

 ever; but very probably such patriarchal specimens 

 had disappeared from the fast-growing little village 

 when the survey for His Excellency the Earl of 

 Loudon, was made. This tree was planted by the 

 head of the family, presumably when his house was 

 finished and he, with his, went to dwell therein. The 

 antiquarian will find in the practice, some correspond- 

 ence with ancient tribal rites and beliefs; with the 

 lar familiaris of the Roman household, perhaps, even 

 with the symbols which served early men in the place 

 of speech. Certainly it was a pleasant custom; and 

 the tree itself must have been the subject of ever- 

 increasing veneration as the years went by, and the sire 

 passed and the son came into his place, to pass as 

 sire in his turn, and yield to his son. 



