Page 422 [422]
OCR
Tare) Pore vw wer SS EC TION ee - a ee — much that may be found, this box, thanks to good care and constant clipping, is particularly broad of girth, the polished leaves being as thick upon the inner as on the outer side. And though the garden has been rearranged by the present owners, under the cuidance of Charles F. Gillett, its old lines have in no way been destroyed, the new ones only serving to enhance the charm of many years ago. The latter-day flowers blooming here lend the accent of comparison to their old-fashioned sisters which grow in greater profusion. And the garden calendars the seasons as they come and go. Tall hollyhocks and riotous sweet peas glorify the garden in June, while masses of lily of the valley and violets bloom in a sheltered corner before the May flowers come. All the flowers, every shrub, each tree is planted in accord with the dominate feature of the garden—the stately boxwood lifting its head along the center length. Screened by a fragile wall of clematis and morning glories, the orchard adjoins the flowers. Near here grow many varieties of small fruits and old-fashioned herbs. Down toward the branch of the river which waters the estate lies a fairy forest where trumpet vine runs riot among the trees; where hawthorn has its day in June and Jack-in-the-pulpit nods his sprightly head among a phalanx of splendid ferns. A tiny hill which slopes into the stream has in its season a carpet of frail wood lilies, while among the birch and maple trees the pink moccasin flower blooms in bold rivalry to its sister orchid. When the Federal troops marched through Orange and Culpeper when the Civil strife was aflame, Pope’s army brought desolation to fair old Horseshoe. Soldiers rifled the barns and stables; they destroyed waving grain fields and burned outbuildings. But it was when they entered the house by battering down doors that they wrought their greatest injury. Maples and the long avenue of other trees beneath which we stroll today were leafless when news was hurriedly brought to Horseshoe that a body of Pope’s soldiers was marching towards the place. Silver was [263]
