March 13, 1889.] 



Garden and Forest. 



125 



shows. Here, as well as in the architectural features proper, 

 we feel that the hand of an artist has been at work. 



Simplicity, dignity and solidity likewise characterize the 

 exterior of the building, while its outlines and proportions 

 are such that its true purpose could not be mistaken. A 

 station is not a house to live in, but a house to wait in — a 

 mere temporary shelter. The roof, therefore, not the walls, 

 should dominate in its expression, and this prime fact 

 Richardson never forgot, no matter what was the size of 

 the station he was designing. The walls at Auburndale 

 are low, and their windows are not conspicuously empha- 

 sized ; but the roof is broad and massive, and the adjacent 

 sheds are not mere adjuncts but integral parts of the 

 building, their roofs being vitally united with its own. In 

 a dwelling-house a more ornate chimney would have been 

 appropriate as accenting the importance of the family fire- 

 side, but nothing could be better on a railroad-station than 

 Richardson's simple chimney. An interesting point is the 

 design of the wooden posts which support the sheds. 

 Here again there is no ornament. But the plain square- 

 sectioned posts with their massive braces, affording three 

 points of support to the beams, admirably express the na- 

 ture of the material, and the 'slightly curved form of the 

 braces prevents any look of stiffness or monotony in out- 

 line. The roofs of the sheds are open, showing the tim- 

 bered construction. The walls of the station are of granite, 

 trimmed with red sandstone, and the roofs throughout are 

 slate, with terra-cotta ridges. 



But a station like this would be shorn of half its comfort 

 and beauty were it placed and surrounded as the American 

 country station usually is. The railroad company was as 

 wise in asking Mr. Frederick Law Olmsted to design its 

 grounds as in asking Richardson to build it. Whatever 

 the art, and however small the problem, only the best 

 talent can produce the best result. If the accompanying 

 plan is studied for a moment its excellence will make itself 

 plain. The high-road passes obliquely by the station and 

 from it, towards the right, diverges the approach in an easy 

 curve, while near the porch underneath which passengers 

 alight is a wide space for turning, and the little lawns are so 

 disposed towards the left as to admit of the passage of nu- 

 merous vehicles without danger of over-crowding. A 

 path-way encircles the station, and the platform may thus 

 be appioached, without entering the building, either on 

 foot or in a carriage. Under the superintendence of Mr. 

 E. L. Richardson, who has charge of all the horticultural 

 concerns of the Boston and Albany Railroad, these lawns 

 have been covered with neat turf and adorned with hardy 

 flowering shrubs, naturally disposed yet grouped in effec- 

 tive masses. The boundary fence to the right is hidden 

 by shrubbery, and masses of it are so disposed around the 

 walls of the building that, with their luxuriant covering of 

 Japanese Ivy {Ampelopsis Veitchi), they almost seem part 

 and parcel of Nature's handiwork. In summer this effect 

 is the most charming that can be produced in a rural situa- 

 tion, while even in winter the deliaite tracery of the naked 

 vines and the bare masses of the shrubs preserve it to a 

 considerable degree. No detail better shows Mr. Olm- 

 sted's good taste than the way in which, in laying out his 

 path, he permitted planting close to the walls. 



A single tree placed by the carriage-porch — which ad- 

 mits to the women's waiting-room — already groups agree- 

 ably with its roof, and in future years will be still more 

 effective, throwing its shade over the spot where the idea 

 of shelter is most conspicuously emphasized by the lines 

 of the building itself. A sub-way runs under the tracks to 

 a strip of lawn on the opposite side, which has its fence 

 "planted out" with shrubs, thus affording the traveler a 

 pleasant, verdurous prospect whichever way he may turn 

 his eyes. 



"A mountain range should be viewed in sections, and only 

 once in its entirety ; a city should be divided in like manner, and 

 we should avoid getting the same view repeatedly. To break 

 up a fine prospect effectively is, liowever, a much more diffi- 

 cult matter, than to expose it completely." Piicklei'-Muskau. 



Foreign Correspondence. 



London Letter. 



SINCE my last letter we have had a coat of snow six inches 

 thick, which remained with us two days and was accom- 

 panied Ijy severe frost. Then came the south-west wind, and the 

 snow disappeared as suddenly as it came. Before the snow 

 the weather was genial, coaxing into bloom many out-door 

 plants, amongst them many kinds of Crocus, Snowdrop, Snow- 

 flake, Eranthis hyemalis, the beautiful Atiemone blamia, Scilla 

 bifolia and several kinds of Muscan. Many of the dusky Helle- 

 bores were in full flower, and the deliciously fragrant Chimon- 

 anthus was gay with flowers. Planted on a warm border 

 against a south wall this shrub never fails to bloom freely here. 

 Its companion, Jas?nininn ;;K^^z^cir?/;;/, with its long wands of 

 bright yellow flowers, also was in full beauty before the snow 

 and frost came. Even now again the branches are full of 

 newly-opened flowers and buds. The flowers of Ntittallia 

 cerasiformis, which was almost in full bloom, were destroyed by 

 the cold. In England this shrub does not fruit, whereas in 

 France and other continental countries its large, plum-like 

 fruits are its chief attraction. Perhaps the most pleasing of 

 the shrubs now in flower outside is the Japanese 'Witch-hazel, 

 Haviamelis arborea. Your native species has little floral at- 

 traction, but the two species from Japan, H. arborea and H. 

 Japonica, are beautiful flowering shrubs. H. arborea is prob- 

 ably only a large form of H. Japonica, but for garden purposes 

 the two are quite distinct. At Kew, H. arborea is a pyi^amidal 

 shrub six feet high, with numerous branches clothed with 

 primrose-yellow tiowers, one inch across, the calyx being of a 

 deep claret color. In Japan this species grows to a height of 

 twenty feet. It was introduced in 1862, is perfectly hardy, and 

 is just the plant to be used for massing in positions where its 

 bright yellow flowers would be seen from a distance. The Hel- 

 lebores (//. orientalis or Lenten Rose) above referred to are 

 frequently grown in pots for the conservatory. They are 

 wanting in brightness of color, although sonie improvement 

 in this respect has been made by breeders, especially in 

 Holland and Germany, where Hellebores receive special 

 attention. De Graaf, of Leiden, has raised many improved 

 kinds, and he grows them in thousands. They are as hardy 

 as the Christmas Rose, much easier to cultivate, and if only 

 we can get brighter and clearer colors into them they will be 

 of immense value as winter flowers. Tlie best I have seen 

 are Apotheker Bogren (rose-purple), Comni. Benary (wliite 

 with crimson spots), Gertrude Jekyll (pure white), Peter Barr 

 (purple) and Colchicus coccineus (rosy purple). At Kew, large 

 clumps of these Lenten Roses are taken up from the ground 

 late in the autumn, planted in pots and brought into the cool- 

 houses to flower. When the flowers are over, the plants are 

 returned to the borders, and they do not show any signs of 

 having suffered from the treatment. Spring Crocuses are 

 gaily in flower whenever the weather will let them push 

 through the soil, and the sun woo them into expanding. I 

 counted fourteen species in bloom to-day, C. Imperati, with its 

 beautiful ]")urple feathering on a buff ground, the color inside 

 being briglit rose-purple ; C. versicolor, variable in its colors, 

 but all the forms attractively marked ; C. Alaiaviciis, C. Korol- 

 kowii, the earliest yellow, C. chrysanthiis, with several 

 other bright yellow, and one white-flowered species were 

 amongst them. 



The meeting of the Royal Horticultural Society was to some 

 extent spoilt by the snow and cold, which prevented intending 

 exhibitors from bringing their plants. There was, however, a 

 varied and attractive display, rendered still more so by the un- 

 usual appearance of things outside. The most interesting 

 exhil)it was a collection of Narcissi grown in six-inch jiots, 

 some of them bearing as many as ten flowers. For the mitldle 

 of February the display was unusually good, and the plants 

 iiad not that drawn, weakened appearance which early, forceil 

 Daffodils generally have, the leaves of Mr. Barr's plants being 

 short, sturdy and full green ; many of the flowers were almost 

 as good as the best of unforced ones. Amongst the yellows I 

 noted, as first-class kinds for forcing, Spurius, Golden SpLU", 

 Obvallaris (Tenby Daftbdil), Henry Irving, Santa Maria and 

 Maximus. These were excellent in form, clear in color, and 

 good in siflistance, in fact, perfect flowers. Many people spoil 

 their Daffodils in forcing by placing them in a close house or 

 frame. The secret of Mr. Barr's success is the use of bottom 

 heat, with abundant top air and a low temperature. The pots 

 are phmged over a bed of manure in a frame with a southern 

 aspect, and the lights are removed in favorable weather, 

 whilst even in the coldest weather plenty of ventilation is given. 

 This treatment induces vigorous root-action and keeps the 

 leaves short and dark "reen. 



