124 Motes made during a Visit to 



'b 



the new Patent Office, and contains about an acre and a half 

 of ground. On it is a green-house, forty feet long; a camellia- 

 house facing the north, forty feet; a hot-house, forty feet; and 

 a geranium-house, about forty feet, the whole being a connected 

 range. In addition to this, there is a rose-house, lately erect- 

 ed, about forty feet long. The whole we found well filled, for 

 the season of the year, with a choice collection of heallhy and 

 well grown plants. The camellias were in excellent health; 

 they are kept in the house the year round. 



When Mr. Buist first leased a piece of ground in Washing- 

 ton, it only contained a few thousand feet; but he has gradu- 

 ally extended his business and enlarged his premises, and 

 at the present time his whole grounds are completely- stocked 

 with an excellent collection of plants. In the open garden, 

 the most attractive objects were the roses, of which Mr. 

 Buist cultivates a choice assortment, including many of the 

 newest kinds. We here saw some remarkably large specimens 

 of micro|)hy]la, Noisette, and other roses, which are gene- 

 rally considered very tender in the latitude of Boston, growing 

 to the height of five or six feet, and flowering in great pro- 

 fusion, particularly the microphylla. With a little protection, 

 the latter, as well as some of the teas and noisettes, stands 

 the winter at Washington without injury, flowering abundantly 

 from June to November. Mr. Buist showed us some seed- 

 ling erythrinas, which, though only six months from the seed, 

 were pushing flower buds: it may almost be treated as a ten- 

 der annual, sowing the seeds in a hot-bed in March, and 

 transplanting to the open ground in June, where the plants will 

 flower in August. 



What pleased us here as much as any single object, were 

 the pyramids of cypress vine. We never saw this exquisite 

 annual growing, where we were so much struck with its 

 beauty. The plants were sown in a circle about three feet in 

 diameter; in the centre of the circle, a large tall stake was 

 placed, twelve feet or more high; at the root of each plant 

 was placed a forked peg, made of stout twigs of trees; to 

 each of these a strong piece of twine was attached, which 

 was carried to the top of the stake, and there made fast to the 

 edge of a smaller circle, about six inches in diameter. The 

 vines had reached the top of the stake, wreathing its branches 

 from one string to another, and forming a complete pyramid 

 of its delicate foliage, interlaced with its brilliant crimson 



