444 Notes and Recollections of a Visit to the 



The approach from the gate, on reaching this conserva- 

 tory, diverges east and west at right angles. That on the 

 left entering an avenue of maples, about thirty feet high, and 

 hung to the very ground with branches, so that their stems 

 are entirely hidden by the umbrageous foliage. This avenue 

 runs through the nursery, about a quarter of a mile in length, 

 at the extremity of which is the residence of Mr. C. M. 

 Hovey, a fine cottage, in the rural Gothic style, more fully 

 carried out than any I have seen. This extremity of the 

 avenue opens on another broad street to the city, and forms 

 another entrance to the grounds. Nothing can exceed the 

 beauty of this avenue ; and I am astonished that the landed 

 proprietors of this country do not take the example which is 

 here given them, and adorn their demesnes with avenues 

 like this. But they like better to cut down avenues here 

 than to plant them. To tell you the truth, I have never 

 seen anything so grand as this in the middle of a nursery, 

 either here or in England. 



The other diverging walk leads to the plant houses, the 

 first of which is a structure of immense proportions, one hun- 

 dred by thirty feet, but so constructed and arranged as to be 

 admirably adapted for the purposes intended, viz., the growth 

 of large plants, chiefly planted out, in the borders of the 

 house. In short, it is a specimen house, and it contained, at 

 the time of my visit, many fine large specimens of Acacias, 

 Boronias, Abutilons, &c. The beautiful Abelia rupestris, five 

 feet high and two feet through, one mass of fragrant flowers ; 

 large bushes of the Cuphea platycentra, six feet high, and as 

 much in circumference, Cestrum aurantiacum, Gloxinias, 

 Gesnerias, Japan Liliums, of which there is a thousand seed- 

 lings, and — I had almost forgot — a Cryptomeria jajDonica, ten 

 feet high, the finest plant I have yet seen. I have not space 

 in this letter to enumerate all the plants in this house wor- 

 thy of notice, nor, indeed, in any of the others. I will just 

 mention that, in another house, also about one hundred feet 

 long, I saw a splendid collection of Geraniums, containing 

 the best and newest varieties, from your neighbor at Isle- 

 worth. The collection, altogether, amounts to about twenty 

 thousand plants. 



