110 Dr. Hooker on American Botany. 



Vegetable Productions of the New England States ,• and, in 

 1788, Walter's Flora Caroliniana appeared in London. 



The elder Bartram, during his extensive and interesting 

 travels, discovered many curious plants, and was the means 

 of making them known to the botanists of Europe, especially 

 of Britain. His friend and patron, Mr. Peter Collinson, who 

 kept up a constant correspondence with him, Colden, and 

 other naturalists of America, was one of the first to cultivate 

 the plants of that country in England, which he did with 

 much success, at his charming garden at Mill Hill, near Lon- 

 don. Dr. Garden was another eminent promoter of Ameri- 

 can botany, and in his communications to Linnaeus, he sent 

 many new and interesting plants. His botanical enthusiasm 

 seems to have been very great ; and we have some striking 

 proofs of it lately published by Sir J. E. Smith, in the Lin- 

 naean correspondence. In one of those letters, addressed to 

 the illustrious Swede from South Carolina, Dr. Garden thus 

 expresses himself on the occasion of his being disappointed 

 of an intended journey to the Apalachee mountains, by an 

 order for the expedition to return. " In my letters," he says, 

 " to you at that time, I gave you an account of my intended 

 journey, and in what manner the arrival of our new governor 

 put a stop to us. Good God ! is it possible to imagine the 

 shock I received when the unhappy express overtook us, just 

 two days march on this side of the mountains. My prospect 

 of glutting my very soul with the view of the southern parts 

 of the Great Apalachees was instantaneously blasted. How 

 often did I think of the many happy hours that I should have 

 enjoyed in giving you a detail of their productions. How 

 often did I think of the secret pleasure which I should have, 

 in being instrumental, though in the least degree, to the ad- 

 vancement of our knowledge of the amazing works of the 

 Supreme Architect. How happy should I have been to have 

 thrown in my mite, by adding one new genus or species to 

 the vegetable or mineral kingdom. With what pleasure did 

 I bear the sun's scorching beams, the fatigue of travelling, the 

 cold ground for my pillow, and the uncomfortable dreariness 

 of rain, when I had in view the wished.for examination of 

 the productions of the mountains. We had advanced about 

 2G0 miles of our journey through the woods, when our hour 



