The pavement-stone procured through Mr. Rumney, in ac cordance with the foregoing order, still exists beneath the grand piazza and the colonnades, but in a dilapidated state. Many of the blocks are gone, others are broken, and all show abrasion by footsteps and the elements. Many of the carpenter's tools, imported from England at that time by Washington, for the use of his workmen, are preserved. Washington was very fond of planting trees and shrubbery; and his diaries show that he was much engaged in that business in 1784 and 1785. He went to the woods almost every day to select and mark young trees for transplanting to the grounds around the mansion, and he generally superintended their removal. In the rear of the mansion, Washington laid out a fine lawn, upon a level surface, which comprises about 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 octag onal 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 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 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 |