GARDEN committee's REPORT. 75 



econoni}^ and thrift; a Avorthy example of industry and good sense. 

 His own labor and that of one hired man, with very little occasional 

 help, has occomplished the whole. The Committee recommend that a 

 gratuity of twenty dollars be given to him. 



"Briar Stoxe." 



On Monday, September 7, your Committee, hj invitation of W. C. 

 Harding, Esq., visited his grounds, "Briar Stone," on the Grove Hall 

 road, in the Boston Highlands. Here they found evidence of general 

 good taste and great fidelity on the part of his gardener, Mr. Timothy 

 McCarthy, a young man reared in Boston, with a natural fondness for 

 flowers. He has evidently made good u«e of his time under the fostering 

 aid of his employer, who provides him with the best sources of knowl- 

 edge, and gives him an opportunity to ■ read all the horticultural 

 publications of the day. In all places and in every department of fruits, 

 vegetables or flowers, under glass and in the grounds, everything was 

 well cared for and arranged. As you entered from the street the drive 

 way was finely graded, and its gutters paved. On the right, was a 

 wild, natural rock-scenery, with clusters of trees and shrubs and wild 

 vines, in contrast with a finished lawn and ornamental groupings on 

 the left. In front of the mansion door, on large pedestals, stood the 

 aloes and sago palm, visible from the piazza and windows; and here 

 and there appeared fine specimens of the Caladium hicolor, the Caladium 

 escuhntum^ Bicinus, Celosia and other striking plants. In different 

 places the plantings were unique. The tall Wicotiana (or tobacco 

 plant) with Canna Indica rubra, showing their broad green and crimson 

 leaves, and the Zea Japonica, some ten feet high, furnished a fine back 

 ground for the gladioli, the Draccena versicolor and the Amaranthus 

 melancholims. In the borders, the Centaureas, of various kinds, more 

 showy than Cinerarias, were planted. 



Near the house was a splendid show of variegated Hydrangeas, 

 which with the A7narantkus and Perilla, the Caladium, ColeusYerschaf- 

 feltii and Veitchii, Eiclnus sanguinius and terminalis, made a very 

 effective cluster on the lawn. 



Two statues commanded the entrance to the greenhouses; and the 

 principal ante room (for billiards) was a model of its kind. Octagonal 

 in form, with rich doors, north and south; and bay windows, east and 

 west, of good width; and fioor of light and dark wood, alternate; and 

 walls and borders to match, well furnished, and with writing desk, 

 books, and writing materials for the gardener, it combined more of 

 taste and comfort than is often seen. Entering the plant-house through 

 such a room, you forget the passage by the interest felt in the small 

 but rare collection of plants within. Here were admirable Gloxinias, 

 especially the Marih pih and erecta; the Sanchezia nobilis variegata; the 



