226 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



dress, with prim, judicial dignity. Amongst them, a native round- 

 headed beech is put into a strait jacket and I'ises up like a spire, 

 hardly to be recognised. In a word, all is eccentric and fantas 

 tical — a new revelation! It is the curtained chamber of the 

 Naiads! Nature en masque! Grotesque figures of men and 

 beasts guard the portals, and vases innumerable of fancy plants 

 line the rural walks. One grand staircase, of hammered granite, 

 runs from terrace to terrace, down from the upper world to the 

 fairy-like hall below, with plinths and flower holders at every land- 

 ing. A highly ornamental balustrade defines the margin of the 

 lake, and bounds a charming promenade upon its border, with 

 steps to the water. Palms, floral gifts, and rich exotics, in profu- 

 sion, grace the floor-ground, and beds of beauty are made up to fill 

 the areas in the rear. A row of Irish yews, in tubs, flanks the 

 upper walk, which, by a few steps at the easterly end, scales the 

 parapet and gives the visitor an easy access to the entrance 

 avenue. 



The view fi'om the battlements, when suddenly opened from the 

 Main Avenue, down upon the odd forms in the lower depths, and 

 upon hedges wide enough for carriages to pass each other on their 

 tops, with the vast masses of shade and the flashing of the silver 

 lake, can never be forgotten. 



Leaving this scene and aiming for the old oak, the visitor passes 

 a circle in the lawn, about five yards wide, composed wholly of 

 variegated honeysuckles with a border of Clematis Jackmanni, 

 trained to the centre and intermingled, with such richness of 

 color, fulness of vigor, and remarkable eflfect, as to delight the 

 observer. 



Entering again the path of the j^ellow Azaleas and descending 

 towards the north, a magnificent Andromeda Jloribunda is seen ; 

 continuing on still further, he enters the vale, leading round to- 

 wards the garden and the lake — the sides of which are being already 

 converted into an extensive Pinetum, of the rarest and best Coni- 

 ferae of the world, especially of China and Japan. A list of the 

 It^;^.tinosporas, Cypresses, and other Coniferae which Mr. Ilunnewell 

 exhiiJ^ited at your show, in September last, being embraced in the 

 Report of the Flower Committee, will be omitted now ; but as 

 that repoi ^ ^^^^^ ^^^t give the size of some of his collection, it may 

 not be aniifc.^ ^^ ^^^ ^^^ same hereto, as furnished by Mr. F. L. 

 Harris the act '0"^P^ished gardener, through whose skill and care 



