36 
A RURAL WALK IK THE CITY. 
it at the seed-stores. When grown at home, one 
knows what he gets, and as it comes to him abun¬ 
dantly and cheap, he can, without grudging, give 
to his neighbors, and thereby greatly promote the 
culture of this most valuable of roots. 
A RURAL WALK IN THE CITY.—No. IL 
Nursery of Mr. Reid, on the Fourth "Avenue, 
between 34th and 48th Streets.— These' are 
charming grounds, situated on Murray’s Hill, and 
command one of the most delightful views to be 
found on the island; and very sorry were we, that 
the vegetation was not sufficiently, advanced, to 
show the scenery to proper advantage—but we 
shall make amends in future visits for all this. 
The grounds contain 12 acres, are in form of an 
oblong square, and are enclosed by a good honey- 
locust hedge and stone walls. The soil is of a 
clayey loam, and is particularly well adapted for a 
healthy growth of trees and shrubs. The walks 
cross each other at right angles, and the borders 
all along the principal ones are planted with flow¬ 
ering shrubs, which will soon be in bloom, and 
continue so in varied succession during the whole 
season, thus making them the most delightful of 
promenades. 
The nursery part is well filled with the various 
Kinds of fruit-trees common to our country, and we 
were informed that it is particularly rich in all the 
new varieties of pear and plum, which are found 
quite superior to the older sorts, Mr. Reid devotes 
most of his time to this department; attending per¬ 
sonally to all the budding and grafting, and will 
guarantee for the correctness of what he sells; for 
he has specimen trees in bearing of all from which 
he cultivates, and this is certainly the only safe 
method for any nursery-man to pursue, to be cer¬ 
tain that what he sells is precisely the thing repre¬ 
sented. Frequent mistakes have hitherto been 
made by some, which have given much dissatis¬ 
faction, and been the means of preventing many an 
after order, of fruits, shrubs, and flowers, in conse¬ 
quence of such disappointments to the purchasers. 
We found Mr. Reid busy in making experiments 
from seeds of different kinds, and from these he 
has growing some quite distinct varieties of the 
Isabella, and Catawba grapes, which he expects 
will bear this season. He has also a number of 
seedling cherries, and has raised a curious variety 
of the peach, growing only about two feet high, 
with branches drooping to the ground like a weep¬ 
ing willow. It lias not yet bprne fruit, and he 
merely mentioned it to us as an ornamental tree, 
and only recommends its cultivation as such, till 
j he ascertains what it will produce. The ornamen¬ 
tal trees and shrubs are of numerous varieties, and 
of suitable, sizes now for transplanting as shade- 
trees in the streets and parks, or private grounds. 
The green-houses here are five in number, ma¬ 
king ranges altogether, of 280 feet. They are well 
stocked with the usual variety-kept on sale for the 
New. York market. 
Giieen-House of Mr. Ball. —Crossing from Mr. 
Reid’s over to the Bloomingdale road, we found 
Mr. Ball prettily situated with an acre and a half 
of garden ground around him, and several long 
ranges of green-houses in fine order. All these 
have double roofs, which Mr. B. prefers in conse¬ 
quence of their giving more heat and light than the. 
single roof, and at a time when most wanted 
One of these,conservatories is' about 20 feet wide, 
and 125 feet long, and as we entered, it presented 
a most splendid and gratifying sight in the flower 
way, for it showed a wide centre row^ and two 
deep side ones, running the whole length of the 
house, and filled entirely with masses of magnifi¬ 
cent Camellias in full bloom. In another range 75 
feet long, we found quite a variety of other plants, 
prettily arranged, and as well as we are capable 
of judging, cultivated with care and attention. 
Nursery and Green-House of Mr. Mantel, 
46th Street.— Just below Mr. Ball,_pn the same- 
road, are the fine grounds, embracing four and a 
half acres, of Mr. Mantel, recently settled here - 
from France. He imported most of his fruits from 
the best nurseries in Europe, and among others, a 
great variety of pears from the celebrated Yan 
Mons, in Belgium. These are generally grafted 
on quince stocks, and come forward much sooner 
than in the ordinary way, hut of course are not so 
long lived. To those who want their fruit quick, 
or standards for grafting, we would recommend the 
dwarfs of Mr. Mantel. He exhibited nearly seven¬ 
ty varieties of pears at the Fair of the American 
Institute last October, and was quite successful in 
obtaining premiums. "We like the pyramidal form 
of training trees adopted here for small-gardens, as 
they take up much less room than the usual way 
and we are of opinion that the fruit they bear is 
better, though this may be a matter of mere fancy. 
We should think there were ranges altogether of 
at' least 250 feet of glass here, and the most numer¬ 
ous shrubs we found in them, were roses and oran¬ 
ges. One entire range was devoted to the latter, 
principally of the dwarf kinds, and such as are 
most suitable for parlor cultivation. 
Garden, Nursery, and Green-House of Mr. 
Hogg. —Pursuing our course towards the city, we 
