VII 

 THE PRESIDENTS' GARDENS 



IT is a peculiarly fitting and happy circumstance that 

 the history of old-time gardening in America 

 should come to a close with the magnificent estates of 

 two such Americans as our first and our third Chief 

 Executives. And that these great plantations of 

 Mount Vernon and Monticello were the personal 

 charge and beloved occupation of their respective mas- 

 ters, before, during, and after their years of service to 

 the infant republic — if ever there were such a "before" 

 and such an "after" in their wonderful lives, which, 

 as a matter of fact, there was not — is the final gratify- 

 ing coincidence and delightful fact. 



Many great men have built splendid houses and 

 planted splendid gardens, but more or less by proxy, 

 more often than not. But these two men built homes, 

 and built them themselves — almost indeed, with their 

 own hands. The estate of Mount Vernon had been 

 the plantation of Washington's father to be sure, at 

 whose death in 1743 it passed to Lawrence Washing- 



132 



