THE LURE AND FASCINATION OF OLD BOXWOOD 



93 



BOXWOOD THE HOME OF CAPTAIN FRANCIS R. MAYER, OF HEWLETT, LONG ISLAND. 

 HERE AGAIN ARE FOUND CLUSTERS OF THE FAMOUS OLD BONAPARTE HEDGE, LENDING 

 A DELIGHTFULLY OLD TIMEY LOOK TO THE BEAUTIFUL GROUNDS 



cialize in supplying many of the box gardens of the 

 North, stated that owing to the demand for this, the 

 favorite of all hardy shrubs, fully seventy per cent of 

 the old plants of the South have been brought up and 

 transplanted in the North, and that practically all of that 

 which grew on Long Island and in New Jersey, has 

 been collected and transplanted to other gardens where 

 it lends its beauty and old fashioned charm. This 

 company of landscape contractors has at its nursery 

 some wonderful specimens and one of the largest 

 collection of box in the country. Recently one of 

 the beautiful old historic gar- 

 dens of the South has given up a 

 boxwood hedge which has been 

 sent north to enhance, with its 

 beauty, some of the large Long 

 Island estates. A recent writer 

 has given us the story of the 

 romance which clings about this 

 famous hedge. It is the tragic 

 story of Betty Patterson, of Bal- 

 timore, and Jerome Bonaparte, 

 the handsome and dashing broth- 

 er of the great Napoleon. To- 

 gether they planned and planted 

 their garden with its boxwood 

 hedges about the charming spot 

 where they spent their honey- 

 moon. Now the old residence is 

 a thing of by-gone days for it 

 has been made a part of Johns 

 Hopkins College, but the old 

 boxwood hedge still retains its 

 identity although ruthlessly torn 

 from its place, and is known as 

 the Bonaparte hedge. The tragic 

 story of this old love affair has 



faded from most minds, but 

 when the evening shadows creep 

 across the Sound, the ghosts of 

 the old days, it is said, steal out 

 into the lengthening shadows 

 from the depths of the old hedges 

 and relive the days when the 

 happy bride and her dark eyed 

 husband planted and cared for 

 their sturdy box hedges, little 

 thinking that they were planting 

 a memorial to their love. 



The largest share of the old 

 Bonaparte hedge was taken to 

 the country estate of Edgar F. 

 Luckenbach, Elm Court, on the 

 North Shore of Long Island ; 

 ivhile the other parts of it em- 

 bellish and lend charm to the 

 gardens of Mrs. Henry Phipps, 

 W. R. Coe, E. T. Stotesbury, in 

 H Philadelphia; Mrs. Robert Lowe 

 Bacon, Dr. E. R. Campbell, and at "Boxwood," the 

 Long Island home of Captain Francis R. Mayer, at 

 Hewlett. 



Not all boxwood boasts such a romantic history, but 

 most of it is steeped in the charm and folklore of other 

 days, and for this reason boxwood demands enormous 

 prices. Three thousand dollars has been paid by one 

 land owner for a few box bushes of historic value. 



Another charming story of boxwood is told of an old 

 colored man near Harper's Ferry. "Near this historic 

 spot in the Civil War, we found a beautiful lot of box 



A GARDEN ON THE ESTATE OF E. T. STOTESBURY, \T CHESTNUT HILL, PENNSYLVANIA, 

 SHOWING WHAT MAY BE ACCOMPLISHED BY THE USE OF MATURE TREES AND SHRUliliKRY 

 IN READILY SECURING AN APPARENTLY LONGESTABLISKED PLANTING 



