NEW AMSTERDAM GARDENS 
79 
the arrival of William of Orange to feel the influence 
of Dutch design on her gardens. 
The “great tree, coeval with some beloved member 
of the family” which is spoken of as usually growing 
before the door of the house in other Dutch settle¬ 
ments, is nowhere mentioned in accounts of New Ams¬ 
terdam, neither is it indicated on either of the 
bouweries illustrated. Such a custom can hardly 
have been confined to one or two settlements, how¬ 
ever; but very probably such patriarchal specimens 
had disappeared from the fast-growing little village 
when the survey for His Excellency the Earl of 
Loudon, was made. This tree was planted by the 
head of the family, presumably when his house was 
finished and he, with his, went to dwell therein. The 
antiquarian will find in the practice, some correspond¬ 
ence with ancient tribal rites and beliefs; with the 
lar familiaris of the Roman household, perhaps, even 
with the symbols which served early men in the place 
of speech. Certainly it was a pleasant custom; and 
the tree itself must have been the subject of ever- 
increasing veneration as the years went by, and the sire 
passed and the son came into his place, to pass as 
sire in his turn, and yield to his son. 
