Arboretums, Places of Beauty and Science 



plants. One of the most interesting col- 

 lections of the oaks of Europe and 

 southwest Asia was started by G. Al- 

 lard near Angiers, France, in 1858. 



IN THE UNITED STATES,, Robert 

 Prince, an early settler at Flushing, 

 Long Island, started a garden and 

 arboretum, which was called the Lin- 

 naean Botanical Garden after 1793 

 and became well known internation- 

 ally. It was continued until 1870, by 

 five generations of the family. Among 

 other things, Prince is credited with 

 planting the first Lombardy poplar in 

 America. The fame of the garden is 

 indicated by the fact that after the 

 Battle of Long Island, in August of 

 1776, the British Gen. William Howe 

 placed a guard around the Linnaean 

 Garden to protect the trees and plants 

 from the hazards of war. The Linnaean 

 Garden had a strong influence on 

 American horticulture and forestry. 



The first botanical garden in New 

 York City was located on Murray Hill 

 as early as 1656. Little is known of the 

 original garden, but in 1801 Dr. David 

 Hosack purchased 20 acres of land in 

 the locality and established the Elgin 

 Botanical Garden at what is now a 

 corner of Fifth Avenue and Forty- 

 seventh Street. In 1810 the property 

 became the Botanical Garden of the 

 State of New York ; it was later trans- 

 ferred to Columbia University and was 

 finally abandoned as a botanical gar- 

 den for lack of funds. 



John Bartram, who was a Pennsyl- 

 vania farmer and one of the most 

 interesting figures among our early 

 American botanists, is generally cred- 

 ited with the establishment of the first 

 arboretum in the United States. It was 

 Bartram who discovered in Georgia in 

 1760 the franklinia tree, a beautiful 

 plant that has disappeared from the 

 wild. Today it is to be found only in 

 arboretums and private gardens. He 

 was honored in his own time by ap- 

 pointment as botanist to the King of 

 England for his labors in collecting and 

 forwarding plant material to England. 

 Bartram built a house in 1731 on the 



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banks of the Schuylkill River at a loca- 

 tion now the south end of Fifty-fourth 

 Street, Philadelphia; it was there he 

 started his arboretum. A large ginkgo, 

 or maidenhair-tree, in this garden is 

 said to represent one of the first trees 

 of this species introduced into America 

 in 1784. Bartram's Garden has been 

 restored as a public garden after being 

 neglected for many years. 



A REGENT SURVEY of public arbore- 

 tums of the United States listed almost 

 a hundred. Besides those that are more 

 or less formally established, hundreds 

 of small groves or plantings have speci- 

 men plants that are identified and 

 labeled. Given time and sufficient in- 

 terest, it is entirely possible that some 

 of these "seedlings" may grow into 

 formal arboretums. Many arboretums 

 are started in just this way. Arbore- 

 tums are not natural steps in ecological 

 successions ; to survive, they must have 

 continuous care and attention. 



Of present-day arboretums in the 

 United States, the Arnold Arboretum 

 in Boston has exerted great influence 

 on our knowledge of trees and shrubs. 

 It is devoted entirely to materials hardy 

 in that region. 



Two of the best known botanical 

 gardens, which also include extensive 

 arboretums, are the Missouri Botanical 

 Garden, which dates from 1859, and 

 the New York Botanical Garden, which 

 was established in 1894. 



The Park Department of Rochester, 

 N. Y., has developed its arboretum in 

 the city's Highland Park into one of 

 the large collections of trees and shrubs 

 in the United States. The collection of 

 poplars at Highland Park, one of the 

 best in the country, made possible 

 hybridization work with poplars. 



THE VALUE of living collections of 

 plants as an aid to scientific teaching 

 and investigation began to be recog- 

 nized about the seventeenth century. 

 Interest in the use of trees and plants 

 for decorative purposes and landscap- 

 ing, and with it the desire to possess 

 rare and unusual forms, developed 



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