238 



JOURNAL OP HOBTldtiLTlJEB AND COtTAQE GARDENER. 



[ iiatcii 29, 1877. 



this land ; at least he thought himself well ofi when he let it 

 to the Apotheoariea' Company in 1G73 for the term of sixty-one 

 years at £5 pnr annum. Doubtless they did something for 

 the elevation of the land and its protection from the tides 

 which in the seventeenth century often flowed over the Chelsea 

 meadows; and the apothecaries also appear to have blocked-up 

 a road which once led down to the bank of the Thames. 

 However, the gardens speedily flourished, and the best use was 

 made of the small space, for the whole extent is but three 

 acres. The indefatigable Evelyn went to have a peep at the 

 new affair, and he states, August 7th, 1685, " I went to see 

 Mr. Watts, keeper of the Apothecaries' Garden of simples at 

 Chelsea, where there is a collection of innumerable rarities. 

 Besides many rare annuals, there was the tree bearing Jesuit's 

 Bark which had done such wonders in quartan agues. What 

 was very ingenious was the subterranean heat conveyed by a 

 stove under the conservatory all vaulted with bricks, eo as 

 he has the doors and windows open in the hardest frosts, ex- 

 cluding all the snow." Eather injudicioixs perhaps; and we 

 find in a later account that Mr. Watts was dismissed for 

 having neglected his duties. In 1G91 a visitor enlarges on 

 the beauty of the variegated hedges and the assortment of 

 plants displayed in the beds ; he was also particularly struck 

 with a bank having " shades of herbs in the Irish style." 

 What this style was it is hard to conjecture. To the care- 

 less Watts succeeded Mr. Doody, who was Curator until 1717, 

 when tho celebrated Petiver was appointed, a friend of the 

 great Hay and of Sir H. Sloane, who bought his natural 

 history collection. It was in 1711 that Sir Ilans, anxious to 

 promote the study of botany, made over tho gardens to the 

 apothecaries as their absolute property, on the easy condition 

 that they should deliver to the lloyal Society fifty plants of 

 their own rearing yearly until the number reached three 

 thousand. What could the Company do but erect to this 

 benefactor the statue which still graces the grounds, the work 

 of Kysbrach ? The inscription tells us it was raised by the 

 apothecaries " with grateful hearts and general consent " to 

 this worthy scientist and lord of Chelsea manor. 



To persons passing Chelsea by water the gardens have been 

 for many years principally noticeable for the two conspicuous 

 Cedars of Lebanon, the survivors of four that were planted in 

 the reign of James II. Two died off between 17C0 and 1770 ; the 

 others grew and apparently reached their maximum size about 

 1830. One of these died some years ago, and the last I believe 

 is now dying or dead. No doubt the collection of hardy 

 exotic trees which began to be formed from the commence- 

 ment suffered a decline from the increase of the houses since 

 the reign of George III. Of trees in these gardens which 

 had a history there might be specified several, such as a 

 remarkably fine Oriental Plane, two Cork Oaks (Quercua 

 suber), a Celtis auatralis, perhaps of the same age as the one i 

 livelyn saw at Lee Court in 1683 just planted, a Paper Mul- 

 berry (Broussonetia papyrifera), a Pistachia Terebinthus, an 

 aged Pomegranate, and a large Magnolia grandiflora. These 

 were all extant when Faulkner visited the gardens while pre- 

 paring his account of Chelsea. The Magnolia, however, was 

 probably not acquired from abroad, but from the west of 

 England. The earliest MagnoUas were, it appears, reared at 

 Exeter from a tree which was rented year by year for the 

 purpose of layering, and the plants so raised were for a number 

 of years commonly sold at five guineas each. The able botanist 

 Philip Miller had charge of the gardens nearly fifty years, and 

 his publications show that his knowledge was both theoretical 

 and practical, though we are tempted to smile at the observa- 

 tion that he was with difficnlty converted to the Linnrcan 

 system by Sir W. Watson and Mr. Hudson, adhering a long 

 while to systems now quite antiquated. Possibly a less degree 

 of force would have led him to embrace the natural system 

 had that been promulgated during his career. Unfortunately, 

 towards the close of his long tenure of office a dispute with 

 reference to the gardens arose between Miller and the Com- 

 pany, and though the breach was bridged over and a retiring 

 allowance given him, he did not survive many months, dying 

 in 1771. Miller effected some improvements in the construc- 

 tion of the greenhouses; but though in communication with 

 botanists of other countries he certainly does not seem to have 

 done much towards the enriching of tho establishment with 

 new importations, but then he was possibly prevented from so 

 doiog by financial hindrances. Ills successor, Mr. Forsyth, 

 was fortunate enough to have a sum of money voted to him by 

 Parliament in 1787, in consideration of his " specific com- 

 pound," by which he professed to restore decayed or injured 



trees. This article turned out to be worthless ; bnt the failure 

 did not materially damage Mr. Forsyth's repute during his 

 lifetime. In the stimulus given to horticulture by the long 

 peace which succeeded to the last French war the Chelsea 

 gardens did not much participate, and though they have been 

 the temporary abiding-place during the last fifty years of 

 several gardeners of repute, they may be supposed now to 

 have ceased to be of importance, especinlly as botany can be 

 learnt elsewhere more efficiently than under the best " de- 

 monstrators " the Company ever had. 



The name of John Fraser, nurseryman and tourist of Sloane 

 Square, naturally associates itself with the " Chelsea Physio 

 Garden," for it was through his visits to that eatablishmeut 

 that he became inspired with a desire to advance horticulture 

 in England. Born in Scotland, like many other illustrious 

 gardeners, about the year 17.50, he came to London while a 

 young man to push his way in the great metropolis. At first 

 he followed the trade of a hosier, married, and settled down in 

 a small shop in Paradise Bow, Chelsea, but he soon began to 

 quit the counter as often as he could in order to watch the pro- 

 ceedings of the gardeners close by, and he became intimate 

 with Mr. Forsyth, who had then the charge of the Apothe- 

 caries' Garden. Being of an enterprising turn be resolved to 

 go abroad in search of new plants, leaving England in 1783, 

 and from South Carolina and other parts of the I'nited States 

 he sent home consignments of plants to Mr. Frank Thor'ourn 

 of Old Brompton. Returning in 1785 with the expectation of 

 getting some recompense for his labour and risk, he was told 

 to bis astonishment that all the valuable plants he had for- 

 warded were dead, and the survivors, which were common, 

 could not be disposed of. Mr. Fraser was so ill-advised as to 

 enter into an expensive lawsuit about the matter, bnt he started 

 again for South Carolina in the autumn, and on this visit made 

 the acquaintance of Walter the botanist, bringing back for him 

 his " Flora Carolina," published in 1788. In this journey he 

 obtained also various Pines, Oaks, Magnolias, Azaleas, and 

 Rhododendrons, for which he obtained good prices. Two sab- 

 sequent trips to America were made in 1700 and 1791, and 

 encouraged by the success of these he determined to have a 

 nursery of his own for the reception of the exotics he ob- 

 tained. Accordingly he took a plot of ground in proximity to 

 Sloane Square, which is now occupied by the Duke of York's 

 School, some time in 1705, and the next spring he went ofi 

 again to America. Before the end of the same year he heroic- 

 ally started off for St. Petersburg, and sold a choice collection 

 of plants to the Empress Catherine. A second visit to Russia 

 was accomplished in 1708, Mr. Fraser returning with the title 

 of Botanical Collector to the Emperor Paul. 



In 1790 Mr. Fraser with his son John started once more 

 bound for America and the West Indies, but this trip was a 

 perilous one, since between Ilavanna and the United States 

 they were shipwrecked and escaped with difficulty. However, 

 their visit to Cuba brought them into communication with 

 MM. Humboldt and Bonpland, and in 1801 they were back in 

 England with >>, goodly collection of rarities. To his great 

 disappointment, on his visit to Russia next year Mr. Fraser 

 found that the new Emperor would have nothing to do with 

 him. Undaunted by the first negative, he actually repeated 

 the visit, going both to Moscow and St. Petersburg, but in 

 vain. Again he went to America in 1806 and 1809, and though 

 tolerably successful in his researches there, the nursery at 

 home fell into neglect through his absence, and owing to the 

 vexations he underwent, probably also from the exhaustion 

 consequent upon his frequent and fatiguing journeys, his life 

 was shortened. Though a tolerably robust man, he died in 

 April, 1811, at the age of sixty-one, leaving two sons. It 

 should be added that from Matanzas in Cuba he brought 

 home a Palm with silvered leaves (Corypha miraguana), and 

 a proposal was made to originate a new manufacture by the 

 hand- weaving of hats and bonnets from these leaves. Mrs. C. 

 Fraser, sister to the nurseryman, opened an establishment 

 under the 'v)ueen'a patronage, but the scheme failed, perhaps 

 through scarcity of material. — C. 



We published a very full memoir of Mr. John Fraser in 

 Tlir CoUaiir Gardener, July, 1852.— Etis.j 



I 



NOTES AND GLEANINGS. 



Tde following candidates were duly elected Fellows of the 



EovAL HoKTiccLTUiuL SociETV ou Wednesday last — viz..G. F. 



Barren, Col. Barron, Dr. Lionel Beale, Mrs. A. G. Dallas, 



Warren de la Rue, F.E.S., Mis. de la Rue, Mrs. E, de la Ene, 



