This is a degree better than when the owners indulge in
statuary. We were made by the driver on another occasion to stop at a
garden ornamented in this way, but certainly Hiram Power's talents had
not been called into request, and the statues were of the most
common-place order.
It is not only in their gardens, however, but in the general ornamental
cultivation of their grounds, that the Americans are deficient, for
even at Newport, where we greatly admired, as I think I mentioned, the
greenness of the grass, it was coarse in quality, and bore no sort of
resemblance to a well-trimmed English lawn. Nor have we ever seen any
fruit, with the exception of their apples, to compare to ours in
England. These are certainly very fine. I hardly know the weight of an
English apple, but at Columbus we got some which were brought from the
borders of Lake Erie which are called the twenty-ounce apple. The one we
ate weighed about sixteen ounces, and measured thirteen inches round.
They are said to weigh sometimes as much as twenty-seven ounces. It is
what they call a "fall," meaning an autumnal, apple.[11]
Next to their apples their pears deserve notice; but, though better than
ours, they are not superior to those produced in France. The quantity of
fruit, however, is certainly great, for the peaches are standard and
grown in orchards; but they are quite uncultivated, and the greater part
that we met with were hardly fit to eat.
Pages:
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202