44 THE HORTICULTURE OF 



Cambridge was celebrated for her gardens and the 

 ornamental culture of her grounds, even before the 

 commencement of this present century. " At the close 

 of the Revolution Andrew Cragie purchased the Wash- 

 ington headquarters, now the residence of the poet 

 Longfellow, enlarged the house, and laid out the 

 grounds in the taste of that period. The stream sur- 

 rounding a small island, with a few pine trees upon it, 

 may still be seen. On the western side of the man- 

 sion the tall hedges and clumps of lilacs are all that 

 remain of this early garden. 



Mr. Cragie had a greenhouse on the grounds where 

 the dormitory of the Episcopal Seminary now stands. 

 This structure was burnt about 1840. He also had an ice 

 house, an almost unknown luxury in those days. Some 

 people thought a judgment would befall one who would 

 thus attempt to thwart the designs of Providence by 

 raising flowers under glass in winter, and keeping ice 

 under ground to cool the heat of summer, which 

 now seems to have been the forerunners of two great 

 institutions in Cambridge, ice in summer, and flow- 

 ers in winter. 



Thomas Brattle, born in Cambridge in 1742, became 

 a royalist refugee in 1775, and was banished by the 

 act of 1778. But in 1784 he returned to Cambridge, 

 his property being restored to him, took possession of 

 his patrimony, the house which now bears his name, 

 next to the University Press, began to improve his 

 grounds according to the taste of a century ago, and 

 from that time until his death, in 1801, his garden, 

 possessing a profusion of fruits and flowers, was the 

 boast of Cambridge. His house was built by his father 

 in 1742, when was planted, probably, the square of 

 English lindens which so long formed a green canopy 

 around it, but which have all fallen by the tooth of 



