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LANDSCAPE G AUDEN ING. 
Philadelphia, was, so long ago as 1805, highly celebrated 
for its gardening beauties. The refined taste and the 
wealth of its accomplished owner, were freely lavished in 
its improvement and embellishment ; and at a time when 
the introduction of rare exotics was attended with a vast 
deal of risk and trouble, the extensive green-houses and 
orangeries of this seat contained all the richest treasures 
of the exotic flora, and among other excellent gardeners 
employed, was the distinguished botanist Pursh, whose 
enthusiastic taste in his favorite science was promoted and 
aided by Mr. Hamilton. The extensive pleasure grounds 
were judiciously planted, singly and in groups, with a 
great variety of the finest species of trees. The attention 
of the visitor to this place is now arrested by two very 
large specimens of that curious tree, the Japanese Ginko 
(Salisburia ) , 60 or 70 feet high, perhaps the finest in 
Europe or America, by the noble magnolias, and the rich 
park-like appearance of some of the plantations of the 
finest native and foreign oaks. From the recent un- 
healthiness of this portion of the Schuylkill, Woodlands 
has fallen into decay, but there can be no question that it 
was, for a long time, the most tasteful and beautiful 
residence in America. 
The seat of the late Judge Peters, about five miles from 
Philadelphia, was, 30 years ago, a noted specimen of the 
ancient school of landscape gardening. Its proprietor had 
a most extended reputation as a scientific agriculturist, 
and his place was also no less remarkable for the design 
and culture of its pleasure-grounds, than for the excellence 
of its farm. Long and stately avenues, with vistas 
terminated by obelisks, a garden adorned with marble 
vases, busts, and statues, and pleasure grounds filled with 
