118 Some Account of the late 



He was, perhaps, the first Anglo-American, who 

 conceived the idea of establishing a Botanic Gar- 

 den, for the reception and cultivation of the various 

 vegetables, natives of the country, as well as of exo- 

 tics, and of travelling for the discovery and acquisi- 

 tion of them. He purchased a convenient piece of 

 ground, on the banks of the Schuylkill, at the dis- 

 tance of about three miles from Philadelphia ; a 

 happy situation, possessing every soil and exposure, 

 adapted to the various nature of vegetables. Here 

 he built, with his own hands, a large and comfortable 

 house, of hewn stone, and laid out a garden contain- 

 ing about five acres of ground. 



He began his travels at his own expence. His va- 

 rious excursions rewarded his labours with the pos- 

 session of a great variety of new, beautiful, and use- 

 ful trees, shrubs, and herbaceous plants. His garden, 

 at length, attracting the visits and notice of many vir- 

 tuous and ingenious persons, he was encouraged to 

 persist in his labours. 



Not yet content with having thus begun the estab- 

 lishment of this school of science and philosophy, in 

 the blooming fields of Flora, he sought farther 

 means for its perfection and importance, by commu- 



Jicited the attention of other botanists or naturalists, among 

 whom I may mention Dr. John Hope, Dr. Daniel Rutherford] 

 and Mr. William Smellie. Mr. Bar train 'a experiments were 

 highly favourable to the truth of the doctrine of the sexes of vege- 

 tables. Editor. 



