July 17, 1889.] 



Garden and Forest. 



347 



the name of Dosoris — dos tixoris." Some sixteen years ago 

 the island was bought by Mr. Charles A. Dana, who at once 

 began the systematic planting which has made it one of the 

 most interesting gardens in the country. The entire island, 

 about forty-frve acres in extent, is now one garden, and is main- 

 tained throughout as a garden, the pasture and forage lands 

 being on the neighboring mainland. 



Mr. Dana's collection of trees and shrubs and herbaceous 

 plants has grown year by year, until it rivals in richness the 

 most complete private collections of the world, and yet the 

 island is nmch more than an arboretum or a plant museiun, 

 for the planting has been disposed with reference to some 

 fine old trees which already stood about the house, and to 

 the belt of forest which already fringed the island, so as 

 to bring out and emphasize the natui-al beauties of the 

 place. The house, with broad, hospitable, vine-shaded piaz- 

 zas, stands on high ground, and from one side the prospect is 

 over a stretch of perfect lawn, with glimpses of the open wa- 

 ters of the Sound between the trees, to give life and light to 

 the picture. On the other side the most attractive view is 

 down a long slope and through a vista of rich foliage towards 

 the bridge which unites the island to the mainland. A sea- 

 wall is built all around the island, and it is draped and fes- 

 tooned with Matrimony Vine, our native Bitter-sweet, a 

 Japanese species of tlie same genus {Celastrus articiilatus) 

 and Periploca Graca, which are planted on the top, and re- 

 lieved by an upright growth behind them of Eleagnus, Tama- 

 rix and some species of Prunus. On the banks, exposed to 

 the lashing of storms, are set such sturdy trees as Locust and 

 Red Cedar, while the Waxberry and Beach Plum have proved 

 perfect shrubs for such a position, extending down to high- 

 water mark, and hiding tlie dry sand and gravel of the bank 

 with a mantle of luxuriant leafage. Within this trim circum- 

 ference, in every shrub-border and group of trees and flower- 

 bed, the universal health and vig-or of the vegetation bear wit- 

 ness to the skill and intelligence with which the garden is 

 cultivated and cared for, and over all is the charm of perfect 

 neatness and order that is absolute. 



To give a list of the garden treasures of Dosoris would be to 

 make a catalogue of the trees and shrubs of ornamefital value 

 that flourish in this climate, but some idea of the richness of Mr. 

 Dana's collection can be gathered from such statistics as 

 these : Of Oaks there are 29 species and varieties; of Hickories, 

 7; of Walnuts, 6; of Maples, 39; of Magnolias, 15; of Pyrus, 13; of 

 Prunus, 20; of Lindens, 11; of Aralias, 7; of Cornels, 12; of Euony- 

 mus, 12; of Rhus, 8; of Spiraeas, 33; of Viburnums, 20; of Ber- 

 beris, 12; while 2,700 plants of Azalea indicate the abundant way 

 in which many species and varieties are used. The figures relat- 

 ing to conifers are still more remarkable when the slender 

 success which usually attends their cultivation in this region is 

 considered. Of Pines there are 38 kinds; of Spruces, 21; of 

 Firs, 23; of Chamascyparis, 17; of Junipers, 16; of Thujas, 20; 

 of Hemlocks, 10; and so on. Mr. Dana considers one secret 

 of his success with conifers to Ije the unsparing use of the 

 knife. He makes repeated extirpation of the leader to cause 

 a full and vigorous grovi'th of the lower branches and certainly 

 some of the specimens which have been habitually pinched 

 back are objects of singular beauty. This is notably true of 

 some Nordmann Firs, a Cilician Fir and a Cephalonian Fir, 

 which have been subjected to this treatment for a long series 

 of years. 



Besides the general assortment in the fruit garden there are 

 400 dwarf, espalier and cordon trained Pear-trees, with Apple, 

 Plum, Cherry and other fruit trees trained in the same way. 

 Figs, German Medlars, Filberts, with other rare fruits and nuts, 

 are cultivated, and this year an unusually heavy crop of 

 Madeira Nuts will be produced. Japanese, Spanish and Amer- 

 ican Chestnuts and Chinquapins are also grown. In the two 

 acres of vineyard sixty varieties of Grapes are found including 

 many of Rogers Hybrids, which are the most favored here. 

 Between the rows of grapes and in the young orchard as well 

 as in an independent garden are seven acres where every sort • 

 of vegetable is grown and all new varieties are tested as soon 

 as they are sent out, many of them, indeed, being sent here 

 before they are put on the market. In connection with the 

 garden is a Mushroom cellar, eighty feet long, a structure built 

 tunnel-fashion, where fresh Mushrooms can be gathered from 

 Octolier until May. The green-houses are arranged in comport- 

 ments for Roses_ for tropical plants, for winter-flowering stock, 

 and a second range consists of a propagating house, a cool 

 house for plants like Calceolarias and Pelargoniums, a Fern 

 house, and a vegetable house while some 250 sashes are used 

 for frames and hot beds. 



It was my good fortune to be one of a small party who vis- 

 ited these well-appointed grounds last week upon the invita- 



tion of Mr. Dana, whose liospitable habit it is to give a day 

 among his trees now and then to guests who take an interest 

 in them. To go through this collection, or as much of it as it 

 is possible to see in a day, under the guidance of its owner 

 and of Mr. Wm. Falconer, for many years head-gardener of 

 the place, is something like a liijeral horticultural education, 

 but apart from very general facts, like those given above, it 

 is difficult to make a selection of topics that might prove inter- 

 esting to yoLu- readers. As an item of seasonable interest it 

 may be worth recording that among trees in flower, on the 

 nth of July, I noted the Ktjelreuteria, our eastern Catalpa (tlie 

 western species was out of bloom) Catalpa Kampferi and many 

 of the Lindens. Of shrubs in bloom the most striking to me 

 was Stuartia pentagyjia, with its large, pure white blossoms. 

 The Japanese Stuartia Pseudo-Camellia, whose flowering 

 caused some sensation in England last year, has bloomed 

 here for several years, but had gone out of flower. Next were 

 three species of Hypericum — H. Kalmlanu/n, H. prolificum 

 and H. aureuin, which last would be a perfect shrub if the 

 old flowers, withered and brown, did not remain so long amid 

 bright golden blossoms in their prime. Hydrangea paniculaia, 

 also in flower, seems to me more graceful than its more wide- 

 ly-known variety, Grandiflora. Other shrubs in bloom were 

 Spirants in variety, dwarf Horse-chestnut, Lespedeza blcolor, 

 Llgustrum Ibota, Buddlela recurvlfolla and B. Llndleyana, 

 Grewla parvljlora, Sytnphorlcarpiis occidentalls, Trumpet 

 Vine, and the Chinese Wistaria, which was showing its sec- 

 ond crop of flowers. Among the gayest of other plants in 

 bloom were Cannas, Montbretias, Perennial Phloxes, Clemat- 

 ises of several species and varieties, SilpluLuns, Rudbeckias, 

 Statices, Hollyhocks, and all seasonable sorts of hardy peren- 

 nials with annuals in countless varieties, since every novelty 

 in this line is grown and tested. In the flower-garden the an- 

 nual and perennial Poppies, Larkspurs, Canterbury Bells, 

 Sweet Williams, Foxgloves, Stocks and other early bloomers 

 were being cleared off and replaced with Gaillardias, Coreop- 

 sis, Mignonette, Gladiolus, Zinnias, Marigolds and other 

 p)lants, which, as a second crop, will make a bright display of 

 flowers before and during autumn. 



Of conifers, besides the specimens named above, which 

 seemed conspicuously beautiful, I noted a glaucous form of the 

 Atlas Cedar; a Sequoia glgantea, probably the finest on this 

 side of the continent ; a Japanese Hemlock of wonderful 

 grace; a remarkable specimen of Pseudolarix; a NumidianFir, 

 which seems to me one of the noblest of its class ; a Douglas 

 Spruce, not quite as large as some specimens I have seen, but 

 unexcelled in form and in the soft texture and color of its 

 foliage. Elccagnus longlpes, a fruiting branch of which you 

 figured in Garden and Forest last year, was loaded with fnn't 

 which was relished by all. There is little doubt that by 

 careful selection this relative of oiu' Buffalo-berry coifld be 

 made to produce a valuable dessert or culinary fruit. Not far 

 away from the Eleagnus stands a most effective bed of 

 grasses, with an immense mass of Arundo donax in the cen- 

 tre, eighteen feet high, varieties of Eulalia and Brlza maxima, 

 ranked about it according to their various stature, and the 

 whole bordered with Stlpa plnnata and Pennlsetum longlsty- 

 luiii. ■ Noteworthy groups of shrubbery were made up of several 

 different species of the same genus as of Spiraea and Vibur- 

 num, and one mass of Rosa rugosa alone, twent3'-five feet 

 square, must have been an imposing spectacle when in bloom. 

 The Rose season was over, but the pink, ever-blooming Bour- 

 bon Rose, Mrs. Degraw, was loaded with flowers, and it was 

 pronounced by both Mr. Dana and Mr. Falconer the best gar- 

 den Rose in the entire collection. The bewildering profusion 

 of vines I thought noteworthy. Woody and herbaceous, ten- 

 der and hardy, they were clambering and twining, wherever 

 th^re was a support to cling to and a handful of soil for 

 root-room. 



" You must use a good deal of fertilizing matter to feed all 

 these plants so well," said one of our party to Mr. Dana. 



" One year I bought 5,000 loads of stable-maniu'e," was the 

 reply; "but my ordinary annual supply is about 1,500 loads, 

 brought here from New York by schooner." 



Besides this, quantities of sea-thatch, forest-leaves, lawn- 

 cuttings and the like are collected for mulch, which is more 

 largely and systematically used here than in any other garden 

 which I have visited. The theoretical value of miflching, both 

 in simimer and winter, is admitted by all, but it is demon- 

 strated here in actual practice, for the principle which controls 

 every operation here seems to be that whatever is worth plant- 

 ing is not orfly worth planting in the best manner possible, but 

 it deserves the very best after care that can possibly be given 

 to it. 



New YorU, July i5tli. S. 



