76 HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY OF TREES. PART I. 
Various other gardens might be mentioned as having contri- 
buted to spread a taste for foreign trees and shrubs towards the 
latter end of this century; and the names of a number of writers 
on botany and gardening would also deserve commemoration 
here, were they not already recorded in the historical part of 
our Encyclopedia of Gardening. ‘The reader who thinks we 
might have extended this part of our work will bear this in 
mind ; and also that it has been our object, throughout this 
Introduction, to repeat nothing which we have already laid 
before the public. 
The only extensive nursery at the beginning of this century 
was, as we have before seen’(p. 46.), that of Brompton Park, 
occupied by London and Wise. ‘Those of Gray of Fulham, of 
Farber of Kensington, of Fairchild of Hoxton, Gordon of Mile 
End, and Hunt of Putney, became eminent before the middle 
of the century; and those of Lee and Kennedy, William Mal- 
colm, Russell, Loddiges, and others, were large establishments 
before the end of it. ; 
Gray commenced his nursery at Fulham early in the 18th 
century. He received many American trees and shrubs from 
collectors and resident amateurs in America, and enriched his 
stock at the sale of Dr. Compton’s trees. In 1740, he pub- 
lished a catalogue of his plants, which is said to have been 
written by Philip Miller. In the preface to Catesby’s Hortus 
Europeus Americanus, which is dated 1767, it is said, that 
‘© Mr. Gray at Fulham has, for many years, made it his busi- 
ness to raise and cultivate the plants of America, from whence 
he has annually fresh supplies, in order to furnish the curious 
with what they want;” and that, “ through his industry and skill, 
a greater variety of American forest trees and shrubs may 
be seen in his gardens, than in any other place in England.” 
This nursery is now in the possession of Messrs. Whitley and 
Osborne, and still retains its reputation for American trees and 
shrubs. It also contains some fine old specimens of the trees 
planted by Gray. Among these are Quércus Suber, Céltis oc- 
cidentalis, Ai/dntus glandulosa, Latrus Sassafras, Koelreutéeria 
paniculata, Diospyros virginiana, and various others. ‘The first 
Magnolia grandiflora which was brought to England (as ge- 
nerally supposed) was planted in this nursery, and all the old 
trees of the kind in the country are said to have been propa- 
gated from it. The tree died about 1810; but its trunk, which 
measures 4 ft. 10 in. in circumference, was, till very lately, pre- 
served. The branches extended over a surface 20 ft. in diameter, 
it was as many feet high, and in the blossoming season, which 
lasted generally two or three months, it perfumed the whole 
neighbourhood. It was surrounded by stages from. the ground 
to its summit, on which were placed pots containing layers for 
