Here a pleasant surprise awaited us ; baskets of magnificent grapes, mam- 

 moth strawberries, the famous Stanwick nectarines, peaches and figs were 

 set before us, and resolving ourselves into a fruit committee we did ample 

 justice to the merits of the fruit and to Mr. Hunnewell's kind and liberal 

 hospitality. Next, passing some thriving specimens of the magnolia in 

 front of the house, and beds of roses, verbenas, and justicia, we visited the 

 fruit garden and greenhouses, marked by the same characteristic neatness. 

 Here we found the choicest strawberries, each variety in its separate bed ; 

 blackberries, currants, raspberries, and pear, apple and plum trees, growing 

 most vigorously and fruiting abundantly. Taking a hasty view of the 

 greenhouses, from which most of the fruit had been cut, we passed on to a 

 peach house just erected where we found the trees looking finely. In one 

 of the graperies a peculiar manner of wiring is well worthy of note and imi- 

 tation ; the wire being fastened to one end of the house is drawn across to 

 the opposite end and fastened to a large screw which is passed through the 

 end wall ; a small nut upon this screw permits the wire to be loosened or 

 tightened according to the expansion or contraction caused by heat and 

 cold; the neatness and simplicity of this arrangement are commendable. 

 Stopping for a moment to notice some fine trees of the famous Stanwick 

 nectarine, we turned towards a small building on the brow of the hill over- 

 looking the lake, where we were shown a small steam engine of six horse 

 power, by means of which the corn is ground, wood sawed, and water 

 pumped from the lake into large reservoirs in the barn, whence it is distri- 

 buted by pipes all over the garden, so that in a dry season the labor of 

 watering is comparatively small. We were informed that in order to keep 

 the place supplied with wood and water it was only found necessary to work 

 the engine for a few hours each week ; altogether this seemed the most 

 perfect arrangement for saving labor and trouble which it had been our 

 fortune to see. Thence we turned to view a noticeable feature of the place, 

 far more interesting in a botanical or horticultural light ; the choice ever- 

 greens and deciduous trees and shrubs imported by Mr. Hunnewell, and 

 which, though as yet young, give promise of a vigorous future. 



And first we would notice the peculiar method of clipping the white pine 

 into various shapes, a tree hitherto considered intractable ; the experiment 

 has succeeded, the shape of the trimmed trees being perfect and the foli- 

 age dense. 



On the right of the avenue we noticed a fine young tree of the curious 

 cork-barked elm ; passing on we reached a path planted on each side with 

 magnolias, kalmias, rhododendrons, and choice new evergreens, among 

 which we would especially notice Picea nobilis, pichta, Webbiana, Nord- 

 maniana, Fraserii, pinsapo (beautiful), Pinus Benthamiana, monticolor 

 insignis, pondurosa, Beardsleyi, patula, Lambertiana, Libocedrus chilensis, 

 Abies Smithiana, Douglasi, Taxus elegantissimus, Cedrus Deodara robusta, 

 Cephalotaxus drupacea, Fortunei, (male and female, curious and beautiful, 

 the foliage of the two sexes being very distinct.) Next we observed a fine 

 collection of Magnolias, consisting of acuminata, conspicua, tripetala, glauca, 

 triumphans, macrophylla, purpurea, obovata and maxima. Mr. Harris, the 



