110 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



and parks, he became less talkative, but was evidently thinking 

 deeply. As we were nearing home he suddenly burst out with 

 the exclamation, " I am perfectly astounded ; I had no conception 

 that such work was going on in this country. Well may the 

 citizens of Boston be proud of their beautiful city." And when 

 he went back to his smoky London, and published a little report 

 of what he had seen in America, the parks of Boston were the 

 most highly spoken of. It was good praise, from a source that 

 knew. I speak of this to show to what perfection the art of 

 Landscape Gardening has arrived in our parks. In Boston the 

 hand of a true artist has made them beautiful, and they will be 

 tenfold more so in twenty or thirty years, if the true aim of the 

 designer is ever kept as a sacred trust, and not utterly destroyed 

 by turning portions of the parks into enjoyable but inappropriate 

 features, such as race-tracks, parade, or even circus grounds. 



But parks are a very small part of this country, and their 

 beauty alone will do but little in making the inhabited portions of 

 this great continent attractive or pleasant. 



The private homes, with large or small grounds, alone have the 

 power to make this country beautiful as a whole, and it is to their 

 owners that we must look for that development of taste, which 

 can produce general good effects. Nor is this simply an 

 aesthetic question ; it is one of great importance to the nation, for 

 beauty and attractiveness in the home are the source of much 

 genuine happiness. They continually appeal to a man's better 

 nature and keep him at home, when he otherwise would be away 

 from it. As they sweeten his domestic life, they strengthen his 

 character. Anything that has a tendency to add these blessings 

 to our homes is a good thing for the people to acquire. 



I remember once walking along a modest street in Liverpool. 

 It was towards the close of a beautiful June day, and the work- 

 men were returning from their daily toils. The street was 

 composed of small houses, set a little way back from the road, so 

 that each house had a small area of ground about it, which we 

 generally speak of as a garden. There was one lot which partic- 

 ularly attracted me. The principal reason for this was that I 

 could not look into it, owing to an irregular screen of floweriug 

 shrubs planted on the inside of the fence. The path leading to 

 the house was curved, while the shrubbery was so arranged at the 

 entrance that I could not even see the house. My curiosity got 



