twenty acres. Around it he made a serpentine carriage-way; and he planted a great variety of shade trees upon each side of it. Upon one side of the lawn he formed a spacious flowergarden, and upon the other an equally spacious vegetable garden, and these were planted with the greatest care, according to the minute directions of the master. I have before me the original plan of these grounds, made by Washington's own hands. It is very carefully drawn. The exact position and the name of every tree to be planted, are laid down. With it is a section-drawing, on a larger scale, showing the proposed carriage-way around the lawn, the names of a large number of trees that were to adorn it, and the places of others indicated by letters and numerals, which are explained by a memorandum. Directly before the western front an oval grass-plot was designed, with a dial-post in the centre, and a carriage-way around it.

The lawn, the oval grass-plot, and the gardens were laid out according to the plan drawn by Washington, and remain unchanged in form. Quite a large number of trees, planted along the margins of the carriage-way, at that time, are yet there, and are noble specimens of their kind. Many others have decayed and passed away; and, in some instances, quite large trees now stand where others were planted by the hand of Washington three-quarters of a century ago.

In each garden Washington erected small houses, of octagonal form, for the storage of seeds and implements of horticulture. These are yet standing. The lower portion of each is of brick, and the remainder of plank, wrought so as to resemble blocks of stone. These garden-houses, and waterclosets of similar form and dimensions, standing on the borders of the garden near the mansion, are now [1859] fallen into

GARDEN-HOUSE.

almost hopeless decay. The massive brick walls around both gardens remain in perfect preservation.

On the north side of the flower-garden Washington erected quite an extensive conservatory for plants, into which he collected many rare exotics. Some of them were presented to him as testimonials of esteem, and others were purchased at the garden of John Bartram, near Philadelphia. Bartram was a member of the Society of Friends, and an eminent botanist. He had died during the Revolution, leaving his business in the able hands of his son William, who, in 1791, published a most interesting account of his botanical explorations through the Southern states of our Union.

A few tropical plants found their way to the Potomac occasionally, upon vessels from the West Indies. Among the latter, on one occasion, were some fine lemon-trees of large

CENTURY PLANT AND LEMON-TREE.

growth, and from them Washington selected two or three. Others were propagated from these by cuttings, until, at the time of his death, they had become quite a grove in one end of the conservatory. Only one of these now remains. It was standing in the flower-garden when I was there in 1858, by the side of a fine century-plant, which was sent to Washington by a gentleman at Porto Rico, in 1798. The tree is about fifteen feet in height; and, though bearing fruit in abundance, shows signs of decay.

At the junction of two of the principal avenues in the

VIEW IN THE FLOWER-GARDEN AT MOUNT VERNON-THE SAGO PALM.

flower-garden, I saw one other plant-and only one-that had experienced the fostering care of Washington. It was a Sago Palm, an East India production, from which is obtained the article of domestic use known as pearl sago, a species of fecula or starch. It stands in a large tub in which flowers were blooming; and its tufted leaves, like immense feathers, growing from the heavy stem seven feet from the ground, were fresh and beautiful.

The Lemon Tree, the Century Plant, and the Sago Palm, are all that remain of the movable plants which belonged to Washington, and were taken from the green-house when it

was destroyed by fire in December, 1835, the same night when the destructive element consumed more than five hundred buildings and other property valued at more than twenty millions of dollars, in the city of New York. The fire originated in a defective flue connected with the conservatory, and

RUINS OF THE CONSERVATORY AT MOUNT VERNON.

that building, with the servants' quarters adjoining it, was laid in ashes in the course of a few hours. What plants were saved from the flames were mostly destroyed by the frost, for it was one of the coldest nights on record.

The conservatory was never rebuilt nor the ruins removed. These, now overgrown with vines and shrubs, form a picturesque garden wall, but lose some of their attractiveness to the eye of taste, by the presence of two tall, perpendicular chimneys, which are seen above the shrubbery from every point of view in the garden. These broken walls, too, strike the visitor unpleasantly. They are at the modern carriage