REPOilT OF THE COIIITTEE ON ORNAMENTAL aARDENlNG, 



FOR THE YEAR 1871. 



H. W. Fuller, Chairman. 



At different times in the coavse of the season, the individual 

 members of this Committee liave visited several places deemed 

 worthy of examination, and have witnessed with pleasure the in- 

 creasing activity, interest, and success of those engaged in horticul- 

 tural pursuits; but their official visits, by invitation, have been to 

 two parties only, and their report will relate principally to these. 



"THE HERMITAGE," 



so called, the residence of William GraY, Jun., Esq., in the Dor- 

 chester District, Boston, was entered in July last as a competitor 

 for the Hunnewell Prize ; and, on the twenty-fifth day of August, 

 your Committee, with several other gentlemen, passed there a most 

 agreeable afternoon. 



Taking the cars of the Hartford & Erie Railroad, at the foot of 

 Summer Street, the company, in less than ten minutes, were set down 

 at the Stoughton-street Station, a short distance only from the house 

 of Mr. Gray, who,, by successive purchases, here holds about 

 twenty acres of land, greatly diversified, and naturally hard to sub- 

 due. All this he has reclaimed, improved, and made uncommonly 

 attractive, mainly within the last three years. In fact, the moment 

 one enters the enclosure, he is struck by the contrast between the 

 place and its surroundings. Passing through the entrance-gate, 

 the rough road, and rougher sides of it, are instantly exchanged for 

 a well-rolled carriage-way and a broad velvet lawn, reaching to the 

 mansion-house and down to the garden beyond. The approach 

 curves through its easterly side, leaving on the left a green carpet 

 extending up to an irregular edging of wild trees and shrubs and 

 a few conglomerate rocks; while on the right the smooth lawn 

 sweeps widely out, undulating and dimpled, dipping to the west, 

 until it suddenly plunges into a deep' ravine, where a running 

 brook, with rugged rocks, dense thickets, and huge forest-trees. 



