THE GARDENS OF NEWPORT— III. 



453 



in its laij^iscape stretches and thus no true attrac- 

 tiveness. 



An old EngHsh writer says: " It is no exaggerated 

 praise to call a tree the grandest and most beauti- 

 ful of all the productions of the earth." And so 

 men everywhere grow trees for profit and adorn- 

 ment. Some of the finest villas in Newport are 

 much more dependent upon them for their attrac- 

 tions than upon shrubs and flowers, though in no 

 case are the smaller plants wholly neglected. One 

 of these is the fine estate of George H. Nor- 

 man, on old Beach road, who, though a native of 



every side. In the illustration the doorway is par- 

 tially concealed by the foliage, and only a glimpse 

 of the carriage drive is seen. This drive curves 

 gracefully to the street, and is bordered throughout 

 with stately forms, though the planting is not in 

 regular lines after the manner of shrubs in a hedge 

 row. Directly in front of the main entrance to the 

 house are three fine beeches, the two on the outside 

 being of the well known purple variety, while the 

 lower and central form, but slightly exposed and 

 showing a soft feathery foliage, is a fine fern leaf, 

 Fagus heierophylla, which has been recently pro- 



A Sunken Garden on J. J. Van Alen's place, Newport, R. I. 



the city, now hails from Boston, spending only 

 his summers here. The estate, though not exten- 

 sive in acres, is large enough for the growth of many 

 specimens of fine proportions. 



The illustration on page 452 shows the entrance 

 to Mr. Norman's summer home, a stately pile of 

 granite facing west, with a closely shaven lawn slop- 

 ing southward. Here the vacant spaces are just 

 sufficient to open the residence to the full sunlight 

 and afford relief from any sense of being crowded 

 or shut in by the forest growth which appears on 



nounced by a distinguished visiting horticulturist to 

 be the characteristic and pet tree of the Newport 

 gardens. However this may be, it is certain that 

 few more beautiful arboricultural effects meet the 

 eye than these specimens afford with their striking 

 combinations of form and color. 



The beech is one of the common sorts among trees, 

 and though almost everyone knows it at sight, few com- 

 prehend its full adaptation for ornamental planting. 

 We observe in our forests but one species, but the bot- 

 anists tell us there are in all no less than fifteen, with 



