September, 1905 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



161 



as much care as has been displayed in the planting deliberately 

 undertaken. There is, therefore, a very unusual sense of 

 wildness in these grounds that adds greatly to their beauty. 



Quite in the woods is the power house, where the engines 

 are tended day and night by competent engineers. Just out- 

 side is the receiving tank for the water pumped from artesian 

 wells by compressed air; steam pumps then convey it to the 

 reservoir, placed on high land some distance away, a reser- 

 voir lined with white enamel brick and filled with so pure a 

 seeming water that a quenchless thirst might be engendered 

 by it, were such sensations produced by the sight of water. 

 Not far from the power house — whose apparatus includes 

 the pump for the ice plant in the cellar of the house — is the 

 swimming tank. It is closely veiled with a high hedge of 

 roses and honeysuckles, so luxurious in their growth as to 

 be practically impenetrable. A bathhouse within the in- 

 closure completes the conveniences of this place. 



The property is so large that each department of the 

 estate has a site of its own entirely removed from every other 

 part. Down below the house stable are the greenhouses, 

 a group of three great structures connected with inclosed 

 passages, and containing a vast assortment of treasures — 

 orchids, begonias, roses for winter blooming, chrysanthe- 

 mums, cacti, ferns, palms, foliage plants and show plants of 

 every description ; it might be easier to set down what is 

 not here rather than what is, so varied are the contents of 

 these buildings and so complete and so apparent the care 

 lavished upon them. 



The unusual feature of the greenhouses, however, is their 

 proximity to the flower garden, which is of great extent and 

 of charming variety. Large beds of flowers surround the 

 greenhouses, and beyond is a circle of water, toward which 

 the flower beds descend in radial lines. The beauty here, the 

 color, the plants, are quite indescribable, so profuse is the 

 blooming, so great the variety, so fine the growing, so splen- 



did the effect. One does not see this splendor from the 

 house; but once here one may wander for hours amid the 

 brilliant flowering and feast one's eyes on what seems to be 

 — and perhaps is — every sort of blooming plant. A long 

 walk, bordered with wide flower beds, leads to a pergola 

 placed under the trees. A sun dial stands at a cross path; 

 and just before the pergola is a pool, whose water jets form 

 graceful fountains at the spot where the cultivated flower 

 garden is merged into the primeval woods. 



Further off is the truck farm, bordered with flowers, and 

 with blooming plants grown in rows for household use. 

 Close at hand is the reservoir, of which mention has already 

 been made, surrounded, as are most of the special places on 

 this magnificent estate, with flowers,, chiefly roses. 



The farm, for of course farming operations are carried 

 on on a large scale, is quite distinct from the other parts of 

 the estate. This is entirely complete and fully isolated. The 

 buildings are large and ample, but unpretentious in style, as 

 befits a true farming community. The stone house for the 

 farmer, however, is almost a mansion, built in the style of 

 the old houses that abound in this region and containing ac- 

 commodations for the farm laborers who are boarded in it. 



The mere enumeration of the farm buildings must suffice; 

 this alone is sufficient to indicate their extent. There is a 

 vast barn, built against the hillside, so that the hay can be 

 taken directly into the lofts and the wagons and large tools 

 stored there. Below, and entered from the other side, is the 

 horse stable, the upper story overhanging an open ex- 

 ternal passage. Here are the farm horses, comfortably 

 stalled, each horse with his name above his stall. Then there 

 is a cow house, the names and pedigree of each cow being 

 duly marked above her place. The heifers are kept in a 

 separate house, two or three in a box stall. In a wing is a 

 house for the sheep in winter, and a sheep yard heavily 

 stockaded as a protection against dogs. There is a corn crib 



"Woodcrest" — The Reception- Room 



