238 APPENDIX F 



On November 18, 1858, an acre of land situate to the north 

 of the New Museum was generously given up by the lessee, 

 Mr. Stevens of Holywell ; and the Museum Delegacy (the 

 Curators of the Parks not having then come into existence) 

 were empowered to plant it [Letter of " E. B. P." to the 

 Oxford Magazine, published just fifty years after the date 

 of the surrender of the lease by Mr. Stevens]. 



According to the " First Report of the Park Delegates," 

 dated June 3, 1863, tne original scheme for the laying out of 

 the ground seems to have been largely due to Mr. J. Bateman, 

 F.R.S., of Magdalen College. Among other things he sug- 

 gested that twenty-six acres should be planted with Coniferous 

 trees so as to form a Winter Garden, and that the other 

 trees should be chosen so as to produce their most striking 

 effect in spring and autumn. Dr. Daubeny was a member 

 of the Delegacy. 



The laying out of the land was still being discussed in 

 January, 1864, and in the following year ^500 for purchasing 

 and planting trees and shrubs was voted by the University.* 

 The oldest plantations in the middle of the Parks date from 

 1870, Awhile those round the Cricket Pavilion and the Observa- 

 tory are some ten years younger. The earlier planting was 

 carried out under the supervision of Mr. Hopkins, Fellow 

 of Magdalen, but afterwards Mr. W. H. Baxter, previously 

 at the Botanic Garden, was entrusted with the work, until 

 his death in 1890. Baxter planted the collection of 

 Thorns along the North and West Walks, and drew up a 

 list of trees and shrubs in the Parks, with a view to the 

 replacement of such as had perished since the original 

 planting was done.t 



* An operation preliminary to the planting of trees was the expulsion 

 of undesirable characters, and was thus described by Riddell in his 

 Proctorial Oration " Agros expurgavi qui Parks dicuntur." 



f The mortality indicated by Baxter's MS. lists of 1888 is so appalling 

 that we shrink from considering it in detail. 



