A VISIT TO BARTRAM'S GARDEN. 



253 



waste, iincultivated land, wliicli, with a little 

 expense, might be converted into similar syl- 

 van retreats.* 



Bartram's Garden. — As I promised to 

 give the readers of the Horticulturist an ac- 

 count of some other gardens that I visited in 

 Pennsylvania, I cannot continue the series 

 with one more interesting than that planted 

 by John Bartram, in 1728. 



Those who reverence antiquities, feared that 

 this spot, now a matter of history from asso- 

 ciations connected with its founder, would be 

 desecrated by modern innovation, and made a 

 convenient landing for coal and lumber. Such 

 a use of it seemed probable, when I visited it 

 four years since ; and I lingered under the 

 fine Cypress, planted more than one hundred 

 years ago by Bartram's hand, and took, as 

 I supposed, a last farewell of what so appro- 

 priately kept his memory green. But such 

 auguries were premature, as I acknowledged 

 when I once more beheld this stately tree, 

 crowning with its magnificence the centre of 

 the garden, and stood beneath its wide-spread 

 branches with one whose name is indissolubly 

 connected with that of Bartram, and to 

 whose zeal in gathering up the memorials of 

 that worthy pioneer of American botany, must 

 mainly be attributed the preservation of the 

 garden. For several years, the descendants 

 of its founder have wished to dispose of it to 

 some one capable of appreciating it, but have 

 only recently succeeded in finding such a 

 purchaser. Andrew M. Eastwick, of Phila- 

 delphia, into whose hands it has fallen, is now 

 putting it in order, and intends to preserve it, 

 a perennial monument of the taste and indus- 

 try of our first native botanist. 



Here flourish a greater variety of our indi- 

 genous trees, than can probably be found in 

 any place of the same size ; for John Bar- 

 tram travelled over nearly all the United 



* We thank our fair correspondent for making so fine a 

 specimen of ornumenlal planting;, known to us. Ed. 



States then known, from Lake Ontario in the 

 north, to the source of the San Juan in Flori- 

 da. He explored rugged mountains, and al- 

 most inaccessible swamps ; and from every 

 excursion brought home trees, plants and 

 seeds to ornament his cherished garden. So 

 many years have now passed since it was laid 

 out, that many of the trees are crowded from 

 too close planting ; and it will be necessary 

 for the present proprietor to throw out some 

 of the least vigorous. 



One path, called the Dark Walk, was 

 planted during John Bartram's lifetime by 

 his son, with different species of the king of 

 trees ; among which are some fine specimens 

 of the Qucrcus macrocarpa, olivaciformis, 

 alba, rubra, and heterophylla. The latter 

 variety, marked by its lobcd leaves, was named 

 by MiCHAUX, " Bartram's Oak," as it was 

 produced from an acorn of his planting. The 

 original tree grew in a meadow at a short 

 distance from the garden, and was cut down 

 many years ago by mistake ; but two trees, 

 raised from its acorns, are flourishing near the 

 oak walk, which, though they have lost the 

 distinctive characteristic of the Bartram Oak, 

 still differ fi-om the Q. phellos ; thus tending 

 to prove Dr. Gray's theory — that the Quer- 

 cus heterophylla is a hybrid. 



Near the house, still flourishes the original 

 Petrj pear tree, planted 115 years ago,. from 

 seed sent from England by Lady Petre, as 

 that of a fine butter pear. In one of Bar- 

 tram's letters to Collinson, dated 1763, 

 he says — " the pear, raised from Lady Pe- 

 tre's seed, hath borne a number of the finest 

 relished fruit. I think a better is not in the 

 world." To which the good old Quaker 

 quaintly replies — " It has been thy patience 

 to wait, but my pleasure to hear of the deli- 

 cious pear, raised from Lady Petre's seed ; 

 but she, dear good woman, has gone to 

 rest." 



The tree this year was covered with fruit 



