April, 1907 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



garden adjoins the terrace on the bay side of the house. This 

 is a spacious grassed space, reaching full across the house, 

 extending beyond its limits on either end. It is inclosed 

 within a low stone wall. Below it are fields, and then clumps 

 of trees, while in the lower distance are the waters of Narra- 

 gansett Bay, with Warwick Neck, Rocky Point, and other 

 well-known landmarks in the far distance across its shining 

 surface. Very restful it is to sit on the Pompeiian porch 

 and cool oneself in the breezes that almost constantly sweep 

 up from below; and very beautiful it is to sit beneath the 

 loggia in the garden, and look out from beneath its nine 

 arches onto the floral loveliness at one's feet. Yet all this love- 

 liness does not exhaust the beauties of this delightful estate. 



Nothing finer, for example, can be imagined than the Mall 

 which stretches away like a vast green carpet just beyond the 

 main doorway of the house. How large it is I have no idea, 

 but of size it has abundance, green with the greenest grass, 

 bordered on three sides, to the right and left and in the far 

 distance, with a lofty hedge: privet without, spir;Ea in the 

 middle, and barberries for the lowest inner rank. All 

 planted thickly and all grow- 

 ing with a marvelous lusti- 

 ness; the spirea, in spring 

 time, presenting a garland of 

 the purest white all around 

 the great space. At the far 

 end, on each side of the open- 

 ing left in the hedge, are two 

 old Italian groups, defaced 

 and weatherworn, it is true, 

 but exactly the right thing in 

 the right place. 



Just outside the hedge, and 

 extending from the pergola, 

 is a long path which leads to 

 the study, a separate simple 

 little house, built at some dis- 

 tance from the residence. Se- 

 vere to a degree, it is thor- 

 oughly charming. It is all in 

 white, save the door, which is 

 green, with a pedimented cen- 

 terpiece, with green trellises 

 against its walls for the up- 

 holding of roses and other 

 vines. Two vast amphorse 

 on either side of the door are 

 welcome color notes. A 

 hermes, embedded in a fine 

 clump of retinospora, can be 

 seen in the grass not far 

 away. 



Here one leaves the formal 

 treatment of the grounds and 

 plunges into the wilder parts, 

 much of which, no doubt, will 

 in time be more deliberately 

 developed than at present, 

 but which in their present 

 semi-wild state are filled with 

 beauty and interest. One 

 wanders here beneath rare 

 and beautiful trees, many of 

 quite unexampled growth. 

 Here is a remarkable Japa- 

 nese elm, planted by Dr. 

 Hall, the Zelkowa keaki, a 

 tree of great rarity and the 

 very finest specimen of its 



kind in America, and one of the most noteworthy trees of the 

 continent. Here also is an immense Japanese yew, rising like 

 an inverted pyramid from the ground. Here, among other 

 notable examples, is a cucumber tree, a Japanese magnolia, a 

 Hop hornbeam, the latter a native tree, with long lines of 

 maples and evergreens, a veritable arboretum without the 

 formal growing one rather instinctively associates with not- 

 able tree culture. Many of these are true giants of their 

 kind, so that in tree beauty alone "North Farm" is a treasure- 

 place almost without peer among the notable estates of 

 America. 



And then there are fields, broad old fields, with their old 

 stone walls. It is true these seem to cut up the estate more 

 than it really is, to limit its apparent dimensions somewhat, 

 but not essentially; since the New England soil must be 

 cleared of stones before even grass will grow upon it, and if 

 not bestowed upon fences where else shall the fortunate land- 

 owner put them? Mr. Piatt has planned for Mr. Clark a 

 very elaborate planting and development scheme for the en- 

 tire estate; but its area is so ample, that all that may be done 



From the Loggia One Looks Over the Formal Garden with Its Central Fountain 

 and Formally Designed Flower Beds 



