Varied Gardens Fair 



75 



Water Garden at Sylvester Manor, Shelter Island, New York. 



I have seen the Victoria Regia leaves of late years, 

 but I seldom hear of its blossoming ; but alas ! we 

 take less heed of the blooming of unusual plants 

 than we used to thirty or forty years ago. Then 

 people thronged a greenhouse to see a new Rose or 

 Camellia Japonica ; even a Night-blooming Cereus 

 attracted scores of visitors to any house where it 

 blossomed. And a fine Cactus of one of our neigh- 

 bors always held a crowded reception when in rich 

 bloom. It was a part of the " Flower Exchange," 

 an interest all had for the beautiful flowers of others, 

 a part of the old neighborly life. 



Within the past five or six years there have been 

 laid out in America, at the country seats of men of 

 wealth and culture, a great number of formal gar- 

 dens, Italian gardens, some of them are worthily 

 named, as they have been shaped and planted in 

 conformity with the best laws and rules of Italian 



