

6o2 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 200. 



vegetable gardening, landscape gardening, etc., and there- 

 fore it is entirely distinct in its purpose from the horticul- 

 tural courses established in the various state agricultural 

 colleges. 



We have lately received several letters to confirm us in 

 the opinion that young men who now take a thorough 

 training in horticulture, either at this Shaw School or under 

 the instruction of skilled gardeners and the growers of 

 choice plants, can easily find remunerative employment. 

 There is an increasing demand for men who understand 

 the cultivation of greenhouse-plants and who are familiar 

 with the care of outdoor gardens. Besides this, seedsmen 

 and commercial growers of high-class plants find it hard 

 to secure men with sufficient practical knowledge to enable 

 them to be efficient salesmen either of new introductions 

 or of well-known plants. One of the letters to which we 

 have referred states that there is general complaint 

 among large dealers of the difficulty in securing thor- 

 oughly posted and capable salesmen ; and while it is 

 true that many of the gardeners in charge of green- 

 houses and grounds in this country are as good as can 

 be found elsewhere in the world, there are others who 

 have not sufficient knowledge or ambition to take the 

 proper care of a fine collection of plants ; and the owners 

 of such plants are, therefore, discouraged from buying 

 more or taking such an interest in gardening as they 

 otherwise would. It is a well-known truth that there are 

 comparatively few good gardeners or salesmen who are 

 American-born. The greater number of the leading men 

 who fill these positions have received their training in 

 Great Britain, France, Germany, Belgium, Sweden or some 

 other foreign country. Certainly Americans have as much 

 natural aptitude for this work as have men of any other 

 nationality. Indeed, some of the most skillful propagators 

 and enterprising growers in the country are Americans. 

 Why should not more of our young men prepare them- 

 selves for labor in this promising and useful field ? 



New England Parks. 



DEERING'S WOODS AND THE PROMENADES, PORTLAND, MAINE. 



VV WHOEVER has read Longfellow's " My Lost Youth " must 

 * * have desired, at some time or other, to see "the shad- 

 ows of Deering's Woods " for himself — those woods in which 

 the gentle poet played when a child, and which he has em- 

 balmed in one of the most exquisite of his poems. 



It is the privilege of the poet to thus secure immortality to 

 some spot dear to his heart, and to make the name of that 

 unseen region a household word even in distant lands. The 

 steep brow of the mighty Hellvellyn will ever be a feature in 

 the mind's landscape beside the Dowie Dens o* Yarrow and 

 the Banks o' Doon. How many pilgrimages have Scott and 

 Burns caused to view the ruins of Melrose or of Alloway's Auld 

 Haunted Kirk ? Is not all Scotland pictured to us in the 

 ringing verse of Scott, till every loch and glen are dear to us, 

 and Ben Nevis and Ben Lomond, Stirling Castle and its " wind- 

 ing river, twined in links of silver light," are as familiar to our 

 imagination as the New England coast ? 



The Rhine — the poetical watchword of two nations — what 

 wreaths of verse and legend hallow its hills and vineyards ! 

 How the yellow Tiber, with its tumbling flood, is a clear vision 

 to the man who never hopes to see the "City of the Soul"; 

 while the peaks and streams of ancient unseen countries live 

 for us in the undying strains of the bards who have sung them, 

 till Scamander and Simoi's, Olympus and the distant Caucusus, 

 Avernus and the Stygian Grot, even the lone Corasmian shore, 

 have a reality to our minds that no geography or history could 

 impart, and dwell forever in our memories, embalmed in one 

 sweet sonorous line. 



What Washington Irving has done for the Hudson.what Whit- 

 tier and Emerson have done for Monadnock and Chocorua, 

 Longfellow has done for Portland — his native city — and for its 

 pleasant woods. Forever in his verse will linger " the beauti- 

 ful town that is seated by the sea," while we 



— can see the shadowy lines of its trees, 



And catch in sudden gleams 

 The sheen of the far-surrounding seas, 

 And islands that were the Hesperides 

 Of all my boyish dreams. 



Nor is it merely a poetic license to call the chief city of 

 Maine beautiful ; for whether approached by sea or land it 

 has an impressive aspect, girt about, as it is, with waters, and 

 overshadowed by fine Elms. Yet its full beauty cannot be felt 

 until you explore the high peninsula on which it stands, 

 really an island, since a bridge is its connection with the 

 mainland, and see the continual rise from the encircling bay 

 to the lofty centre, with shady streets ever climbing or de- 

 scending hills, while from the high upper windows of many 

 houses, far-away views of sea or mountain gladden the dweller 

 in that favored town. 



For some reason I had falsely fancied that Deering's Woods 

 were to be found somewhere upon those heights 



o'erlooking the tranquil bay, 



where sleep the dead sailors who fell in the famous sea-fight 

 between the Shannon and the Chesapeake in the war of 1812 ; 

 so that it was with surprise I discovered the old grove in 

 a valley near the water, hard beset by screaming engines and 

 partly belted by iron rails. I was disappointed, too, in the ex- 

 tent of this classic ground ; for, though there are sixty-six acres 

 in the city reservation, not all of it is covered with trees, and 

 some of it is in a rough, unfinished condition. 



The woods which were presented by the Deering family to 

 the town in 1879 cover a space about as large as Boston Com- 

 mon, and consist almost entirely of Oaks, venerable with age 

 and russet with the touch of autumn when I saw them. Drives 

 wind in and out among the antique trees, under which the 

 turf is fresh and green. The underbrush is all cleared away, 

 and in the centre is a natural pond of pleasing contours, which 

 is a beautiful feature of this easily accessible pleasure-ground. 



It is to be hoped that the city will acquire a certain slope 

 beyond the railroad-cut, which could easily be bridged over 

 to connect it with the grounds ; and I understand that more land 

 contiguous is soon to be purchased to give greater importance 

 to the proportions of the little park — for park the local news- 

 papers persist in calling it, though far more preferable and 

 hallowed is the homely name of Deering's Woods, given to it 

 by the poet, or that other appellation by which it is still known 

 to Portland boys — Deering's Oaks. It is neither large nor 

 imposing enough to be properly called a park, and the old 

 name fits it perfectly, while it seems to me that somewhere 

 about its gates might be engraved the quotation from the well- 

 known poem, which makes it classic ground: 



And Deering's Woods are fresh and fair, 



And with joy that is almost pain, 

 My heart goes back to wander there, 

 And among the scenes of the days that were, 



I find my lost youth again. 



And that strange and beautiful song 



The groves are repeating it still, 



"A boy's will is the wind's will, 

 And the thoughts of youth are long, long thoughts." 



So associated is her poet son with the city of his birth, that, 

 as one walks under the overarching trees, it is pleasant to 

 come upon Mr. Simmons' seated statue of Longfellow, at the 

 shaded junction of several avenues, looking down "those 

 well-known streets" which he as sweetly commemorates in 

 his verse as " the black wharves and the slips," the " bulwarks 

 by the shore," and that 



breezy dome of groves 



which was the occasion of my pilgrimage to the dear old town, 

 which cherishes his memory by preserving the spot he so 

 highly honored with the undying tribute of song, as a per- 

 petual playground for its children. 



Even more important as a breathing-space to the sea-girt 

 city is the fine system of promenades with which she has 

 crowned her heights — wide, smooth drive-ways, from which 

 the harbor is grandly commanded. Here on the eastern 

 promenade you skirt ancient earthworks, and come out upon 

 the esplanade where are the ruins of Fort Sumner. From this 

 point you look upon the Back Bay and the city climbing its prom- 

 ontory, while due east is a great harbor with a peaceful oppo- 

 site shore, and islands dotted with summer homes, and a view 

 of Cape Elizabeth, which has many villas along its windy and 

 sea-smitten coast, that are a favorite resort of Portland people. 

 This high and breezy avenue is shaded by tall trees much de- 

 jected by constant exposure to northern blasts, but the out- 

 look upon bay and land is imposing. This system of drives 

 encircles the summit of the peninsula, which, from its lofty 

 elevation, commands a great extent of country ; but the west- 

 ern view is the finest of all. 



Upon the western promenade front some of the best Port- 

 land houses, and perched on the side hill is the Maine General 



