AUSTERE PURITAN GARDENS 105 



were filled with flowers and fruit trees, and the sum- 

 mer-house commanded a view down upon them and 

 away to the harbor and all that lay beyond. Some 

 great trees near it were a landmark for mariners ap- 

 proaching the coast, up to the time of the Revolu- 

 tion; but these were cut down by the British during 

 the siege of Boston. 



Another notable place was the seat of Thomas 

 Brattle, Esq., in Cambridge. This was perhaps the 

 most remarkable of any of the places worthy of rec- 

 ord, although it was of considerably later develop- 

 ment. Brattle was a native of New England, promi- 

 nent in Boston as a merchant when the troubles of 

 the late eighteenth century were brewing. When 

 these demoralized business, he retired temporarily — and 

 some have criticised him sharply for retiring from the 

 country at such a time, as well as from his counting 

 house. He had a taste for travel, however, and pre- 

 sumably he reasoned that it might conveniently be in- 

 dulged during the enforced idleness which lay before 

 him. So he went across the sea in 1775, and jour- 

 neyed and observed; and when he came back four 

 years later he was well equipped to "develop, improve 

 and embellish his patrimony." No doubt he con- 

 tributed much of real value to the horticulture of that 

 time, for horticulture he made his favorite study and 

 pastime. 



