cherry trees, flanked by peach and pear. Fruit trees, although so
common and so lavish of their blessings in this climate, are
often gathered about American country-houses, instead of being
confined to gardens devoted to the purpose, as in Europe; a habit
which pleasantly reminds us that civilization has made a recent
conquest over the wilderness in this new world, and that our
forefathers, only a few generations back, preferred the trees of
the orchard to those of the forest, even for ornament. Fruit
trees are indeed beautiful objects when gay with the blossoms of
spring, or rich with the offerings of summer, and, mingled with
others, are always desirable about a dwelling as simple and
unpretending in its character as Wyllys-Roof. Beneath the windows
were roses and other flowering shrubs; and these, with a few
scattered natives of the soil--elm, hickory, sycamore, and tulip
trees--farther from the house, were the only attempts at
embellishment that had been made. The garden, surrounded by a
white paling, was thought an ornamental object, and lay within
full view of the drawing-room windows; and yet it was but a
mixture of the useful and the beautiful, in which the former
largely predominated. As a kitchen-garden it was certainly
excellent; but the narrow flower-borders, which surrounded the
ample beds of melons and strawberries, asparagus and
cauliflowers, would have appeared meanly furnished in the eyes of
a flower-fancier of the present day. There was not a hybrid among
them, nor a single blossom but what bore a plain, honest name;
and although there were lilies and roses, pinks and violets in
abundance, they would probably have been all rooted out by your
exclusive, fashionable gardener of the last summer, for they were
the commonest varieties only. There were but two walks on the
lawn; one of these was gravelled, and led to the garden-gate; the