THE YODNG OOLOGIST. 



VoLn.No.l. ALBION, N. Y., MAY, 1885. ] 



Published Monthly. 

 $i.oo Per Year. 



Bartram's Gardens. 



Never shall I forget 1113' first impressious 

 on visiting these honored gardens. It was 

 a glorious autumn afternoon, such a day as 

 compels one to be satisfied with all the 

 world. Embarking at Philadelphia, a fif- 

 teen minutes' ride by rail landed me at the 

 modest station nearest mj- destination and 

 a brisk walk of ten minutes brought me to 

 the sacred ground ; sacred I say advisedly, 

 because I was confronted at the outset by 

 a large, rude sign, which warned all per- 

 sons to trespass at their peril, and some- 

 thing was also said about prosecution, dogs, 

 etc. However, I disregarded such trifling 

 things as these, and kept right on, up a 

 lane bordered by trees such as no man 

 would be likely to see again, over a bridge, 

 and here I knew m3'self to be within the 

 pale of the law, the clutch of the dogs, and 

 the gates of Bartram's gardens. They are 

 now untenanted save by some very fierce 

 bloodhounds and a watchman. Meeting 

 this personage I overcame his objections to 

 my intrusion by a large amount of dijilo- 

 macy and a small amount of silver. 



.John Bartram, the founder, was born in 

 Darby, Pcnu'a. in 1699, and from a simple 

 ploughman became, in time, one of the 

 most distinguished of Botanists. In 1728 

 he bought at sheriff's sale a piece of ground 

 on the west side of the Schuylkill, below 

 the "Lower Ferry" on the Darby road, 

 and began the building there in 1730. in a 

 quaint, old-fashioned style of architecture, 

 a house of hewn stone, which, solid and 

 enduring in its material, has resisted the 

 dilapidating hand of Time for over a cen- 

 tury and a half. On a tablet on the west- 

 ern end of the house is this inscription : 

 ".John* Ann Bartram, 1731," (the asterisk 

 being employed, as was the custom of that 

 period, to designate the male member.) 

 Forty 3'ears after he engi-aved with his own 



hand upon the stone at the back of the 

 house this couplet : 



" 'Tis God alone, Almighty Lord, 

 The only one by me adored." 



John Bartk.\m, 1770. 



Both these inscriptions and the house are 



ill a good state of preservation to this day. 

 This is the house which, at a later period, 

 sheltered Alexander Wilson, the Father of 

 American Ornithologj', during which time 

 William Bartram, son of .John, was its 

 owner. The gardens in the midst of which 

 the house was erected are seven acres in 

 extent, and slope to the bank of the river, 

 and became one of the most attractive 

 places in the neighborhood of the city. 

 Trees from every clime were planted, the 

 rare.st exotics and flowers from the four 

 quarters of the world were here gathered 

 as subjects for stud}' and ornamentation. 

 Here it was, in his study or under some 

 wide-spreading tree, that Bartram wrote 

 the first books of travels ever published by 

 an American. These gardens have had a 

 very important bearing upon American 

 Ornithology, for it was here that Bartram 

 tirst met Wilson, and directed the poor 

 schoolmaster's inherent love of Nature into 

 that channel in which he afterwards ac- 

 quired such well-deserved fame. Here 

 Wilson spent much of his time, and from 

 here he gave to the world his delightful 

 sketches of our birds and descriptions of 

 his journeyings. He makes frequent allu- 

 sions in his life work to this spot, and to 

 his venerable friend, Mr. Bartram. No 

 admirer of Wilson can remain insensible to 

 the charm pervading this retired park, a 

 charm born of association with him and 

 his works. A short distance from these 

 gardens stood Wilson's schoolhouse (a cut 

 of which Coues presents in his New Key), 

 but alas ! the relentless march of pi'ogress 

 and industry has long ago removed this 

 humble monument to the poet naturalist. 



