Varied Gardens Fair 
75 
Water Garden at Sylvester Manor, Shelter Island, New York. 
I have seen the Victoria Regia leaves of late years, 
but I seldom hear of its blossoming; but alas! we 
take less heed of the blooming of unusual plants 
than we used to thirty or forty years ago. Then 
people thronged a greenhouse to see a new Rose or 
Camellia Japonica ; even a Night-blooming Cereus 
attracted scores of visitors to any house where it 
blossomed. And a fine Cactus of one of our neigh- 
bors always held a crowded reception when in rich 
bloom. It was a part of the “ Flower Exchange/' 
an interest all had for the beautiful flowers of others, 
a part of the old neighborly life. 
Within the past five or six years there have been 
laid out in America, at the country seats of men of 
wealth and culture, a great number of formal gar- 
dens, — Italian gardens, some of them are worthily 
named, as they have been shaped and planted in 
conformity with the best laws and rules of Italian 
