BOTANICAL GARDENS OF JAMAICA MAXON. 525 



village of Bath, lying in the eastern end of the island, 44 miles east 

 of Kingston and distant 6 miles from the Caribbean. Accordingly, 

 Bath Garden was founded the next year and placed under Clarke's 

 care. Many introductions of foreign plants now followed rapidly. 

 One lot was received in a most unusual way, namely, by capture. 

 It is a matter of history that in 1782 a French ship, bound from 

 Mauritius to Haiti, having been taken by the English under Eodney 

 and sent to Jamaica as a prize, its cargo was found upon examination 

 to include a considerable shipment of economic plants. These were 

 all planted out in Mr. East's garden. Among them were cinnamon, 

 jackfruit (Artocarpus integrifolia), and mangoes — the last two not 

 previously imported into Jamaica. The story runs — apparently 

 without contradiction — that in the lack of a descriptive invoice the 

 new plants were known for a time only by the serial numbers with 

 which they had been tagged, and that in this way the "No. 11" 

 mango, since so well known, received its name. 



In 1793 Captain Bligh, H. M. S. Providence, brought several hun- 

 dred plants of the breadfruit (Artocarpus incisa) from Tahiti, and 

 many other valuable tropical plants as well. These were distributed 

 among the planters, besides being planted at Bath Garden and in 

 the garden of Mr. East, the latter known commonly as the Liguanea 

 Garden from its location at the northern edge of the dry Liguanea 

 Plains, where these border the southern foothills of the Blue Moun- 

 tains. Either from plants of this shipment or of the earlier ones 

 the mango spread rapidly, foreshadowing its present development as 

 the most characteristic tree of cultivated areas at lower and middle 

 elevations. 



As to the further history of the Liguanea Garden it may be noted 

 that this property was purchased by the Government upon the death 

 of Mr. East in 1790, only to be disposed of again in 1810 to private 

 owners. 



Clarke was followed as island botanist successively by Dancer 

 (1797), MacFadyen (1825), and Higson (1828). Of these Mac- 

 Fadyen is best known, principally from his critical studies of the 

 native Jamaican flora. Among other accessions of this time was a 

 collection of living plants brought from South America by Higson 

 and planted in Bath Garden, which by the addition of a few acres in 

 1829 was more than doubled. 



In 1846 Nathaniel Wilson, who had been in the Kew Gardens for 

 several years, was appointed island botanist and curator of the Bath 

 Garden. Under his capable management a very large number of 

 additional plants were imported. He gave special attention to the 

 formation of an extensive collection of fiber-producing plants, the 

 cultivation of which he foresaw as promising a wonderful future 

 to Jamaica, but secured also such introductions as the mangosteen 



