74 
PARK AND CEMETERY. 
sculptor’s art by giving us good portraiture, bear- 
ing in expressive qualities the latent forces of the 
man. 
The height of the statue from the ground, or 
first base to the rider’s hat, is 15 feet i inch, the 
plinth being 5 feet 6 inches wide and 12 feet six 
inches long. The pedestal, which was designed 
by Architects Frank Miles Day and brother, is of 
pale pink Jonesboro granite. Its total height from 
the ground proper to the bronze plinth of the 
statue is 15 feet S /4 inches. The pedestal rests 
upon two steps rising from the ground, and on this 
the die, a plain granite block, bearing upon its face 
a wreath encompassing the simple legend “Grant,” 
with crown and dental moulding above. 
The contract was given by the Fairmount Park 
Art Association in January, 1894, at a total cost 
for pedestal and statue of $32,675- 
THE ARBORETUM AT ROSE BRAKE. 
A hundred years ago the little arboretum of 
Rose Brake was a part of the natural forest of this 
region. The old oaks and tulip-trees still standing 
here, some of them eighty and a hundred feet in 
height, and girthing from fourteen to nineteen feet, 
four leet from the ground, must have seen many 
generations of men pass away beneath their shade. 
Rose Brake is situated about a quarter of a 
mile in a southerly direction from the village of 
Shepherdstown, in Jefferson Co., West Virginia. 
This village was settled in the early part of the 
eighteenth century and is one of the oldest towns 
in the Valley of Virginia. It lies on the banks of 
the Potomac amid picturesque scenery, loved of 
artists, who frequently come to spend the summer 
in the environs. 
Twelve years ago, when the writer began to 
improve the little farm of Rose Brake, it consisted 
of sixty-two acres of good ground, partly under 
cultivation and partly in wood and marsh-land. 
The former owners had merely fenced in and clear- 
ed the undergrowth of the grove of about eight 
acres which sloped from the high ground on which 
the dwelling is situated, in a westerly direction to 
the county road running south from the village. 
This grove had been pastured by sheep and cattle so 
that nothing but the largest trees had been pre- 
served from their depredations. There was no 
shrubbery and no growth of vines, wild flowers or 
saplings. Ledges of bare lime-rock cropped out in 
all directions and a smooth turf of blue grass 
growing close up to the trunks of the trees, which 
stand far apart as comports with their size and 
dignity, gave a park-like appearance to the place. 
The first improvement effected by the present 
owners was to turn out the grazing cattle and give 
a chance for the native under-growth to spring up 
to diversify the aspect of the grove, and to clothe 
the bare rocks with verdure. Virginia creepers and 
other vines were found to be indigenous and only 
needing a chance to convert many bare and unsight- 
ly places into beauty. Shrubs were planted in 
groups here and there against the stone walls and 
many small trees set out where there was sufficient 
space. 
The ground of the grove is rolling, and in the 
main consists of two low hills, running east and west, 
with a winding valley between there. There are 
two approaches to the dwelling. One winds through 
the valley on the northern side of the domain, while 
the other takes the southern side and is a shorter and 
more direct approach to the house through the 
shrubberies that form the southern boundary of the 
pleasure grounds. An irregular avenue of large oaks 
and tulip trees outlines these carriage roads. There 
are no walks in any part of the grounds in front of 
the house except an informal footpath which defines 
the short cut across the grove and adjoining field to 
the village. The collection of shrubs and other 
plants has been formed gradually, until the little 
arboretum now boastsof more than five hundred var- 
ieties of hardy plants The idea has been to mass the 
shrubs in an irregular belt around the borders of 
the grove, with a few groups of small trees and ever- 
greens, here and there, on rising ground or in other 
conspicuous positions which best display their beau- 
ty. Rocky places have been planted with the native 
ferns and wild flowers, as the results of many delight- 
ful excursions to the cliffs of the Potomac and the 
woods and marsh-lands of the neighborhood, and 
hundreds of plants have thus been naturalized in 
the wilder parts of the grounds. 
But the glory of the place is in its roses which 
we have planted in every situation where roses may 
be coaxed to grow, and which transform the pleas- 
ure grounds in May and June into a fairy land of 
bloom and beauty. Here at the side of the house 
and in the garden proper, which is behind the house, 
are formal beds for tender teas and the choicer gar- 
den varieties; groups of Lord Penzance sweet-briers 
and many wild and single roses clamber over the 
rocks through the grove, or climb the trees or 
throw a veil of beauty over stump and bush. Rosa 
Wichuriana trails at will over barren places; R. mul- 
tiflora converts a young mulberry into a shady bow- 
er; arbors and arches and trellises are covered with 
climbers, and an irregular hedge of hybrid per- 
petuals forms the northern boundary of the grove 
The clay sub-soil is mulched with wood’s earth 
and a rich black marl from the marsh mixed with 
barnyard manure, and in this composite soil the 
roses flourish. Early in May they begin to bloom 
