HINTS TO RURAL IMPROVERS. 115 



at the Bartram Garden, the Hamilton Place, and many of the old 

 estates bordering the Schuylkill, will make him familiar with rare 

 and fine trees, such as Salisburias, Magnolias, Virgilias, etc., of a size 

 and beauty of growth that will not only fill him with astonishment, 

 but convince him what effects may be produced by planting. As 

 a specimen of a cottage residence of the first class, exquisitely kept, 

 there are also few examples in America more perfect than Mrs. 

 Carnac's grounds, four or five miles from Philadelphia. 



For landscape gardening, on a large scale, and in its best sense, 

 there are no places in America which compare with those on the 

 east bank of the Hudson, between Hyde Park and the town of 

 Hudson. The extent of the grounds, and their fine natural advan- 

 tages of wood and lawn, combined with their grand and beautiful 

 views, and the admirable manner in which these natural charms 

 are heightened by art, place them far before any other residences in 

 the United States in picturesque beauty. In a strictly horticultural 

 sense, they are, perhaps, as much inferior to the best places about 

 Boston as they are superior to them in the beauty of landscape gar- 

 dening and picturesque effect. 



Among these places, those which enjoy the highest reputation, 

 are Montgomery Place, the seat of Mrs. Edward Livingston, Blithe- 

 wood, the seat of R. Donaldson, Esq., and Hyde Park, the seat of 

 W. Langdon, Esq. The first is remarkable for its extent, for the 

 wonderful variety of scenery wood, water, and gardenesque which 

 it embraces, and for the excellent general keeping of the grounds. 

 The second is a fine illustration of great natural beauty, a mingling 

 of the graceful and grand in scenery, admirably treated and 

 heightened by art. Hyde Park is almost too well known to need 

 more than a passing notice. It is a noble site, greatly enhanced in 

 interest lately, by the erection of a fine new mansion. 



The student or amateur in landscape gardening, who wishes to 

 examine two places as remarkable for breadth and dignity of effect 

 as any in America, will not fail to go to the Livingston Manor, seven 

 miles east of Hudson, and to Rensselaerwyck, a few miles from 

 Albany, on the eastern shore. The former has the best kept and 

 most extensive lawn in the Union ; and the latter, with five or six 

 miles of gravelled walks and drives, within its own boundaries, ex- 



