House £s? Garden 
THE LIGHTING APPARATUS 
especially of all the suburban stations, was 
brought before the full board of directors. 
It was represented as an end desirable not 
merely for its own sake but for its probable 
value to the railroad by its tendency to bring 
the city residents into the suburbs. 
Circumstances conspired to make the op¬ 
portunity exceptional. Not only was the 
interest and expert knowledge of Prof. 
Sargent available, but the Newton Circuit 
was just being opened, and the Auburndale 
and Chestnut Hill stations, designed by 
H. H. Richardson, had created a new 
standard of way-station con¬ 
struction and had given birth 
to ideals that could not be 
satisfied with neglected or 
barren station yards. So, to 
shorten the story, Frederick 
Law Olmsted was engaged to 
prepare plans for the grounds 
—to make the setting and 
arrange the planting for Rich¬ 
ardson structures (!) and with 
this assurance of artistic success 
the Newtonville baggage- 
master was advanced to the 
position of superintendent of 
the department of station 
gardens and began to study in 
the Arboretum. There, by 
the terms of its endowment, reservoir station 
every tree and shrub which can bear the 
climate of Massachusetts must be cultivated, 
so that there was conveniently offered the 
ideal experiment ground for any scheme of 
planting in which only native shrubs were 
desired. 
The road now maintains its own nursery 
of hardy shrubs and plants. Sixty station 
yards—forty, that is, outside the Newton 
Circuit—are under careful cultivation ; but 
the most interesting work, because the most 
compact and the work done under the most 
favorable circumstances, is still that on the 
Circuit. The principal nurseries of the road, 
the department claims, are the station gardens 
themselves, where the shrubs are grown 
thickly and transplanted as necessity arises. 
There is no expense for showy summer 
vegetation and for a brilliant carpet garden¬ 
ing of short-lived flowers, the effects of color 
and picturesque grouping being obtained 
far more economically and far better by 
massing shrubs and plants and making use 
of perennials. In this respect the gardens 
of the Boston and Albany road differ from 
those of almost every other railroad that 
attempts to beautify station grounds—and 
differ, it must be said, for the better. On 
the one hand, the decorative effect is far 
more lasting, continuing throughout the 
year; on the other hand, it is much less 
expensive than if greenhouses and a costly 
winter establishment were required; while, 
finally, the opportunity for really artistic 
BOSTON & ALBANY R. R. 
