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106 OLD-FASHIONED GARDENING 



No description of his gardens, which were "univer- 

 sally admired for the justness of their design and the 

 perfection of their productions," is left, unhappily; but 

 nowhere in New England was horticulture carried ta 

 so high a degree of perfection, if the enthusiasm of a 

 contemporary has not exceeded his veracity; and no 

 doubt the mall adjoining his grounds "made in 1792^ 

 and shaded by handsome rows of trees," was a "work 

 of neatness and taste; ... at once convenient 

 and ornamental to the town." 



Another garden of the end of that century, in Bos- 

 ton proper, entered in the "Book of Possessions" as 

 belonging to Gamaliel Wayte, is described with a fair 

 amount of detail. The place, which lay lengthwise 

 on the street, was inclosed by a fence ten feet high, 

 solid and paneled for some distance up from the 

 ground, with the top open for observation abroad. 

 This open top was made of inch-square vertical 

 "slats," capped by a rail and set far enough apart to 

 see through. A large double gate for carriages was 

 at one end of the grounds, with a small one for visit- 

 ors afoot at the other, near the house. From the 

 "front gate" — probably this small footgate — there 

 was a vista of three hundred feet which took in the 

 court and the garden, closing with the summer-house 

 at the garden's far end. The court was paved with 

 white and blue cobblestones — ancient Spanish gardens 



