1894.] ESSAYS. 55 



tlie gardens classes are held for the study of gardening, fruit-tree 

 pruning, etc., thus teaching practical horticulture. 



The grounds of the Jardin des Plantes, which is a scientific insti- 

 tution, occupy about 75 acres, are open to the public, and are filled 

 with rare plants. Here is found a museum of natural history, with its 

 zoological gardens, its hot-houses and green-houses, its nursery and 

 naturalization gardens, its collections for illustrating zoology, anato- 

 my, botany, mineralogy, and geology. Its courses of lectures, by 

 the most distinguished men of science, make it an institution of great 

 eminence. 



We cannot leave these foreign parks and gardens without speaking of 

 one on one of the Borromean Islands, Isola Bella, in Lake Maggiore, 

 one of those gems among the hills of northern Italy. Like the Duke 

 of Devonshire, Count Boiromeo opens both his palace, and his gardens 

 to less fortunate mortals, without money and without price except the 

 j)our Loire always expected by the servant who does you the slightest 

 favor in a foreign land. The gardens are raised in terraces, ten in 

 number, and they contain a large variety of plants, both domestic 

 and foreign, so arranged as to give the finest effect. Oleanders luxu- 

 riate here in their own element, and are of immense size and of 

 various colors. Here, also, we find vines of all kinds, the bamboo, 

 cedar of Lebanon, and even the old friend of our boyhood, the Amer- 

 ican pine. One great swinging vine was quite a curiosity ; a huge 

 mass over a rocky grotto swinging out like an immense curtain. This 

 reminds me that through Italy we saw many vineyards containing both 

 the mulberry and the vine, the former trimmed down to close, thick 

 heads, and the latter stretching from tree to tree, with the foliage and 

 rich clusters of fruit swinging between. 



But to come back to America. Our parks do not suffer in compari- 

 son with those abroad, when we consider the element of time. Few 

 American parks are 100 years old and nearly all not much more than 

 half that, while many of those on the other side are several times the 

 age of ours, giving more time for those developments which take time. 

 Of course, the old world is much richer in art, and its public grounds 

 are more profusely adorned with statuary, fountains, etc., than 

 ours, but, on the whole, no American need be ashamed of his coun- 

 try on this or any other account. 



Many years since, the municipal authorities of our then infant city, 

 in their wisdom, bought of Gov. Lincoln, an honorod citizen, the 

 tract now known as Elm Park, and some years later he left by will a 

 sum of money to be expended in improving the same. For this pur- 



