328 



MEMOIRS, &.c. 



LiNN.EUS was acquainted with compara- 

 tively but few ; how limited were the means 

 of knowledge with our "King's Botanist," 

 Bartram ; how few his resources for ac- 

 quiring the little that so few knew ! Peter 

 Collinson and his other correspondents, 

 write constantly to send tortoises, wasps' 

 nests, and other things the very names of 

 which they were unacquainted with ; and 

 yet they were performing their office, spend- 

 ing their money t to bring together the 

 unknown things of America, where science 

 could name and classify them. They too 

 had a planting taste that has not spread in 

 proportion to the increase of knowledge, for 

 our best trees and shrubs ; they write for 

 more Franklinias, (now Gordonia sube- 

 scens,) more Magnolias, and especially were 

 they anxious to possess our magnificent 

 Water-lily, (Neluvibetim luteum) one of the 

 most superb plants of America, both for leaf 

 and flower ; and yet we venture to say not 

 one in ten thousand of our countrymen have 

 had their curiosity awakened to see the ex- 

 panded treasure ; though it grows in all its 

 glory within two miles of the now old (in 

 an American sense) Independence Hall. 

 But a favored few know its locale or ever 

 see its curious flower, or the fruit equally 

 agreeable and somewhat similar in flavor 

 to the Chinquapin. Why is this, unless, 

 indeed, we make the excuse that it is diffi- 



eince that period been described by travellers, (my expedi- 

 tion alone furnished 3,600 of the 5,800 collected species of 

 the equinoctial zone.) and if we remember that in all the 

 botanical gardens taken together there are certainly above 

 25.000 phaenogamous plants cultivated, we shall easily 

 perceive how much Decandolle's number falls short of the 

 truth. Completely unacquainted as we are with the large 

 portions of the interior of South America, of Africa, Mada- 

 gascar, Borneo, and Central and Eastern Asia, the thought 

 rises involuntarily in the mind, that we may not yet know 

 the third or probably even the fifth part of the plants existing 

 on the earth!" 



Professor Lindley, in his " Vegetable Kingdom." publish- 

 ed in 1848, estimates the number of the species then known 

 at 92,930, including Algae, Fungi, Lichens, Mosses, Ferns, 

 and flowering plants. 



t We must say, even taking into account the differ- 

 ence in the value of money, the prices paid were very small. 

 The king allowed Bartram only fifty guineas a year to pay 

 his traveling expenses and for specimens. Other payments 

 will strike the reader of the book as ridiculously small. 



cult to cultivate, or, that little curiosity on 

 these subjects exists among us? 



But we must turn to the book and en- 

 deavor, by extracts, to exhibit the character 

 and the simplicity of this correspondence. 



In a late letter from Bartram, he thus 

 beautifully describes the beauties of nature ; 

 it seems as if he had concentrated his whole 

 soul in this one effort : 



" What charming colours appear in the various 

 tribes, in the regular succession of the vernal and 

 autumnal flowers — these so nobly bold — those so 

 delicately languid ! What a glow is enkindled in 

 some, what a gloss shines in others ! With 

 what a masterly skill is every one of the varying 

 tints disposed ! Here they seem to be thrown 

 on with an easy dash of security and freedom ; 

 there they are adjusted by the nicest touches. 

 The verdure of the empalement, or the shad- 

 ings of the petals, impart new liveliness to 

 the whole, whether they are blended or arrang- 

 ed. Some are intersected with elegant stripes, 

 or studded with radiant spots ; others affect to be 

 genteely powdered, or neatly fringed ; others are 

 plain in their aspect, and please with their naked 

 simplicity. Some are arrayed in purple; some 

 charm with the virgin's white; others are dashed 

 with crimson ; while others are robed in scarlet. 

 Some glitter like silver lace ; others shine as if em- 

 broidered with gold. Some rise with curious cups, 

 or pendulous bells; some are disposed in spreading 

 umbels ; others crowd in spiked clusters ; some 

 are dispersed on spreading branches of lofty trees, 

 or dangling catskins ; others sit contented on the 

 humble shrub ; some seated on high on the twin- 

 ing vine, and wafted to and fro ; others garnish the 

 prostrate creeping plant. All these have their 

 particular excellencies ; some for the beauty of 

 their flowers ; others their sweet scent; many the 

 elegance of foliage, or the goodness of fruit; 

 some the nourishment that their roots afford us ; 

 others please the. fancy with their regular growth; 

 some are admired for their odd appearance, and 

 many that offend the taste, smell, and sight, too, 

 are of virtue in physic." p. 398. 



The following are fair specimens of the 

 large correspondence of Peter Collinson, 

 and exhibit the amount of knowledge then 

 possessed by him. They show the pro- 

 gress of the introduction of our trees, &c, 

 into Europe, with some natural touches of 

 character. 



[COLLINSON TO BARTRAM.] 



" As Lord Petre desired to see thy letters, they 

 are all there. He admires thy plain natural way 



