COMMERCIAL NURSERY AND GARDEN OF MESSRS. PARSONS & CO. 
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and firs, highly valued for their utility and beauty. 
Among these we noticed the Norway spruce, cedar 
of Lebanon, Irish yew, pinaster (stone pine), white 
pine, &c., &c.; the Scotch fir also, and the larch, 
which have been so extensively and profitably 
planted on the immense estates of the Duke of 
Athol. The white spruce, a dwarf tree, we do 
not. recollect to have seen before, and we greatly 
admired its fresh foliage and symmetrical shape. 
The shrub department next drew our attention 
to its numerous and varied combinations of beauti¬ 
ful flowers and foliage. Of these we can scarcely 
give the names of even the most striking, and 
merely mention the shepherdia argentea, whose 
showy clusters of brilliant red berries are so much 
admired in their season; the cratajgus glabra, a 
shrub imported by the proprietors from England, 
which they have found to endure the winter if pro¬ 
tected from the sun, and which with its dark and 
glossy foliage promises to be a valuable acquisition 
to our stock of hardy evergreen shrubs. The 
Scotch broom (spartium scoparium), with its pro¬ 
fuse clusters of bright, yellow, locust-like flowers 
is exceedingly beautiful, and we regretted that we 
were not there during its most perfect period of 
blooming. 
The magnolias appeared very thrifty, and we 
noticed some fine specimens of the purpurea, con- 
spicua, soulangiana, glauca, tripetala,Thomsoniana, 
and others, whose names we do not recollect. 
The seedlings of the glauca and tripetala looked 
thrifty, and a fine lot of the macrophylla were just 
showing their heads above ground. 
♦The herbaceous plants exhibited a pretty assort¬ 
ment of delicate and showy flowers. Among the 
vines we noticed a large variety of the clematis and 
the honeysuckle, and also a large number of newly 
imported ones, whose adaptation to this climate 
nas not yet been tested. 
The forest-trees we found numerous and varied, 
indeed, all that are of known utility, or which are 
desirable for ornament, and many with which we 
were entirely unacquainted. The pavia coccinea 
is a beautiful tree of the second class, with a dark, 
green, and glossy foliage, and very brilliant, bear¬ 
ing scarlet flowers, resembling those of the scarlet 
trumpet honeysuckle. The robinia viscosa is quite 
a pretty dwarf tree, with flowers similar to the 
yellow locust. Among the maples were some va¬ 
rieties entirely new, and very desirable for orna¬ 
ment. The stock of ailanthus and of white abele 
comprised some fine trees. We also thought the 
ash-leaved maple extremely pretty. Of the roses 
we can scarcely speak, there were so many. Suf¬ 
fice it to say, that they embraced all the well 
known varieties worth possessing, and a considera¬ 
ble number of others entirely new to us. They 
were growing thriftily, and promised a fine bloom. 
We next inspected the fruit department, where 
we found apple-trees 10 to 12 feet high, some very 
thrifty peaches, apricots, and nectarines. The 
cherries were remarkably fine; some three years 
from the bud would measure nearly 12 feet in 
height. They comprise all the known kinds. The 
proprietors showed us the results of a new plan 
they have adopted in budding the peach on the 
plum stock. The peaches done in this manner 
appeared very thrifty, and in no way inferior to 
those of the same age on their own stocks. The 
inoculation had also taken quite as generally as on 
the peach stock. This method of budding pos¬ 
sesses a twofold advantage: the worm will not 
readily attack the stock or root of the plum, and 
the peaches are well known to bear much sooner, 
and to produce larger and finer fruit. The plums 
done on the same stock appeared remarkably well. 
We were also shown some thrifty apple-trees, 
which were grafted on the root during the winter 
before last. We highly approve of this method of 
grafting, for we found them unusually large of their 
agej and of a very straight growth. The apples on 
paradise or dwarf stocks were also doing well. • 
The strawberries comprised some twenty-five or 
thirty of the finest kinds. The currants, goose¬ 
berries, raspberries, &c., &c., were choice and of 
sufficient variety. 
The proprietors are about enclosing with a 
hedge, a large piece of land for a Pomological gar¬ 
den, to contain specimen fruit trees, which they 
have hitherto scattered about the farm. They 
intend in this to test fully the quality of any new 
fruit, and their adaptation to this climate. 
The house of Mr. S. B. Parsons is finely situated, 
and surrounded by a large lawn of some six or 
eight acres sloping to the west; affording an ex¬ 
tensive inland view on one side, and on the other 
a beautiful prospect of the bay and sound, with the 
palisadoes of the North river, and the highlands 
of New Jersey melting away in the distance. This 
lawn, with land adjacent if it may be needed, the 
proprietors are making arrangements to convert 
into an arboretum, and hope in a few years to have 
planted there every variety of hardy trees and 
shrubs which can be procured. They already pos¬ 
sess many rare kinds for this purpose, and among 
others, we were shown the Paulownia imperialis, 
the cedrus deodora, the quercus heterophylla, and 
other new varieties. Some new kinds of the ma- 
