60 THE HORTICULTURE OF 



years there, and established in 1826 the mercantile 

 house which still exists, and though passing through 

 several parties since, it now has a good standing, and 

 is, we believe, one of, if not the oldest American houses 

 existing there. 1 



Among other gardens was that of Hon. Charles 

 Thompson, whose father was an experienced cultivator 

 of fruits. It is still among the largest and best in the 

 town. The Navy Yard has a large garden for fruits 

 and flowers. The grounds of the Ursuline Convent on 

 Mount Benedict were once extensive in their orchards and 

 shade trees. In Charlestown, also, was the " Vineyard" 

 under the care of David Haggerston, one of the pioneers 

 of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, and after- 

 wards the gardener of John P. Gushing, at Water town. 

 This garden was an experimental one, and devoted almost 

 exclusively to the testing of foreign varieties of the grape 

 in open ground, and other small fruits, and here was first 

 introduced the famous Keen's Seedling strawberry from 

 Europe. Here was a greenhouse containing a fine collec- 

 tion of the Camellia, where the writer saw this elegant 

 plant in bloom for the first time in his life. Another 

 garden devoted to the cultivation of fruits and flowers 

 was that of Samuel E. Johnson, who, forty years ago, 

 was one of the most successful cultivators and exhibitors 

 of fruits and flowers. 



There have been many other fine gardens in Charles- 

 town, but most of those of which we have spoken have 

 been built upon. Outside of the peninsula was the 

 estate of Joseph Barrell, on the present site of the 

 McLean Asylum, which was one of the most distinguished 

 in our region. 2 It had large gardens and greenhouses, 

 which cost about fifty thousand dollars, and in those 



1 Mr. J. F. Hunnewell's letter. 



2 Drake's Middlesex, p. 177. 



