Stranica 208 [208]
8
THE UPpPER JAMES
and careful measurements made so as to enable them to locate the
spot. Months afterwards when the war was over, several men dug
nearly all day without results and, just as the search was about to
be abandoned, Mrs. Rutherfoord suggested making new measure¬
ments, allowing for growth of the cedars, and the box was dis¬
covered well under the edge of the hedge.
Near where the giant elm cast its shadows over turf like that
of Old England, there was an arbor, and many a love scene was
enacted there during the seventy years of the Rutherfoord occupa¬
tion. Behind the hedge, under a great hackberry tree where the
turf was like velvet, the girls would spend hours sewing and read¬
ing and the colored children be sent to remind them of meal times.
With the passing of slavery, the heavy pecuniary losses entailed
by the War Between the States and the death of Mr. Rutherfoord
and of Edward, the “‘perfect gardener,” portions of the garden
became gradually much overgrown, while the lawn became more
beautiful as the trees attained full growth.
In 1908, Mrs. Rutherfoord, for more than fifty years the mis¬
tress of Rock Castle, passed away amid the scenes she had loved so
well and under the old roof tree which her kindness and hospitality
had made famous. In 1910, her daughter, Mrs. George Ben
Johnston, took over the estate and she and her husband, a dis¬
tinguished surgeon of Richmond, made many improvements on the
farm and to the dwelling.
They employed a firm of Boston architects and landscape¬
gardeners, Andrews, Jaques and Rantoul, to lay out over again the
garden, as much as possible on the same lines as formerly and,
with a skilled Scotch gardener to carry on the work, Rock Castle
garden took on new beauties and was a joy to its owners. Dyna¬
mite was used in many of the squares and the result, as shown in
the extraordinary size and yield of the vegetables and fruits, was
a proof of the efficacy of this treatment of our soil. Gourds grown
On a vine were so large as to be regarded as curiosities and pre¬
served as such. During this period our country was again plunged
[127]