BOSTON AND VICINITY. 55 



two hundred acres, which, varied with its fine avenues 

 bordered with old oak, walnut, and tulip trees (one 

 of the last is eighty feet in height), and ornamental 

 trees, rhododendrons, azaleas, and other shrubs, make 

 it one of great interest. Here is a large conservatory, 

 sixty feet wide, with fourteen other houses, devoted to 

 the cultivation of certain classes of plants, fruits, and 

 vegetables. Among these houses may be named a 

 large greenhouse, two pelargonium, two orchid, one 

 palm, one azalea, with several other houses devoted 

 to grapes, peaches, nectarines, figs, and vegetables. 



The lawn on the south of the house is magnificent, 

 containing about twenty acres, on and around which 

 are some of the finest purple beeches in the land. On 

 these premises are several gnarled old oaks, and a 

 deciduous cypress of great age, and also a park well 

 stocked with deer. 



Opposite Mr. Pay son's is the handsome old place of 

 William Pratt, which has for a long course of years 

 been kept in a fine condition by his heirs, under the 

 supervision of his son, George W. Pratt, one of the 

 early vice-presidents of the Massachusetts Horticultural 

 Society, and since his death by Miss Mary Pratt, who 

 still, at an advanced age, preserves its former reputation 

 with good taste and enterprise. The conservatory of 

 choice plants, the graperies, peach house, the orchard 

 and garden, are perpetuated from year to year in excel- 

 lent order. 



Near by is the elegant villa and estate of the 

 late Alvin Adams, renowned for his enterprise and suc- 

 cess as the founder of the great Adams Express Com- 

 pany. His extensive lawns and ornamental grounds, 

 together with his valuable picture gallery, have made 

 this place one of the most attractive in the vicinity of 



