Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science, Vol. 26, August, 1880Various
History
Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science, Vol. 26, August, 1880
Various
Literature, Modern -- 19th century -- Periodicals; Science -- Periodicals
Enclosed by a high wall of masonry (the "tabby" just described) was a
tract of twelve acres devoted to the cultivation of flowers and tropical
fruits. This wall, now broken down in places and overgrown with ivy-and
trumpet-vines, yet divides the garden from the larger fields once
devoted to cotton and cane. The gardener's house was next the mansion,
and joined to it by this high wall. The garden lay to the south,
reaching the marsh in successive terraces. On and about the semicircular
terrace immediately around the house were planted crape-myrtle, clove
trees and sago-palms: some yet remain to indicate what an Eden-like
retreat was this garden of spices and bloom half a century ago. The
first broad terrace, which ran the entire length of the garden-wall east
and west, was divided by an avenue of olives, which separated in front
of the house, leaving a space in which were two noble magnolias. A broad
walk ran from the house to the lower garden, which was divided from the
other by a thick-set hedge of mock-orange: in this garden was another
walk bordered by olives. This space was entirely devoted to flowers: on
each side was a grove of orange trees, and in the lower garden were the
fig, India-rubber and date-palm, the golden date of Africa. Of trees
there were the camphor tree, coffee, Portuguese laurel, "tree of
Paradise," crape-myrtle, guava, lime, orange, citron, pomegranate,
sago-palm and many others whose home is in the tropics. The delicious
climate of this island, several degrees warmer than that of the main
land in the same latitude, enabled the proprietors of this insular
Paradise to grow nearly all the fruits of the torrid zone.
A little tongue of land runs from the garden into the marsh, an
elevation of the original shell-mound, covered with oaks hung with long
gray moss. This was called "The Park," and here the inhabitants of this
favored estate would resort for recreation in the afternoon and evening.
Near this strip of land, beneath the shade of an immense live-oak,
luxuriates a clump of West India bamboo, said to have originated from a
single stalk brought here by General Lee. The feathery lances clash and
rattle with all the wild abandon characteristic of them in their native
isles. I have not seen a more perfect group outside the islands of the
Caribbean Sea.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account