Calls at Gardens and JWrseries. 31 



York. Mr. Perry's residence is situated near the South Ferry. The 

 house is a handsome building, in the Grecian style, with Ionic porticoes 

 and two wings, one of which, the conservatory, is certainly one of the 

 most complete and elegant structures of the kind we have yet seen. It 

 is probably about fifty feet in length, with a span-roof, glazed on all 

 sides, excepting, of course, where connected with the main body of the 

 house, with one of the parlors of which it communicates, thi'ough a 

 glass door. In the interior there is a border around three sides of the 

 conservatory, and a large oblong bed in the middle, filled with the choic- 

 est plants. Between this bed and the border, the walk, paved with 

 marble, is conducted round the conservatory: the building is heated by 

 hot water circulating in cast-iron pipes. Among the choice specimens 

 growing in the central bed, we observed very fine plants of Urania 

 sj^eciosa, Ficus macrophylla, and jRhododendron HusseUiunum, the 

 latter full of flower-buds. Very large orange and citron trees, a large 

 fruiting specimen of the rose apple, Jambbsa vulgaris, and another of 

 the double white camellia, all of which were more than eight feet high, 

 occupying the centre of this bed, and attracted our admiration. We 

 noticed a number of fine camellias, of which a few of the earlier sorts 

 were then (Nov. 30,) coming into bloom. Several acacias, decorated 

 also with their pretty yellow blossoms, and a number of fine chrysanthe- 

 mums, full of flowers, gave a gay appearance to the apartment. The 

 exterior of the conservatory exhibits a row of pilasters supporting the 

 roof, in the space between which, the windows, constructed and hung 

 like double doors, open outwards for ventilation. The whole structure 

 is one of the most finished models for those who are erecting similar 

 edifices, that we can point out, and makes a very handsome wing to a 

 villa in the Grecian style, now so prevalent in this country. The ad- 

 vantages of thus connecting the green-house with the living-rooms of 

 the house, in a private mansion, are so obvious as to need nothing ad- 

 ditional on the subject from us. By the opening of a single door, the 

 ladies of the family can refresh themselves, at any time, with the beau- 

 ty and fragrance of the flowers, and enjoy the pleasant recreation of a 

 half hour's delightful occupation among the plants, in the very depths of 

 winter. This seems to have been too much neglected among us gene- 

 rally, the green-house being, most frequently, a detached building not 

 accessible to the family, in those months when most enjoyed, without 

 braving the cold air of winter. 



Mr. Perry has very considerable ground around his residence, which 

 we were glad to see he is laying out in the most beautiful manner. A 

 large basin of water with a handsome jet or fountain will be a conspic- 

 uous ornament, and, judging from pi'esent appearances, the whole will 

 be a suburban garden of the first order. 



Residence of N. I. Becar, Esq. — There is a handsome conservatory 

 erecting here, in the same street, and nearly in the same style as Mr. 

 Perry's, but detached from the house. Mr. Becar has just commenced 

 collecting exotics; and as his conservatory was not quite finished, his 

 plants were temporarily crowded into a green-house adjoining; among 

 them we observed some noble orange trees, passifloras and Cape plants. 

 The hot-water apparatus putting up here is of the same construction as 

 that we saw in Mr. Perry's conservatory, and is the work, we believe, 

 of Mr. Anderson, engineer, Brooklyn. It appears to heat the house 

 verj'^ perfectly, and is certainly neat in its appearance; ])ut its first cost 

 is probably twice as great as the apparatus with copper boiler and tubes, 

 so generally used in Boston, and we are strongly uiclined to doubt if its 

 durability will be found greater. The furnaces in both cases are of 

 course constructed for burning coal under the boilers. Mr. Becar ap- 

 pears to be quite an amateur of plants, and has a choice collection al- 



