21 AUTOBIOGRAPHY AND 



had almost the certitude of a situation as curator of a 

 botanic garden under the governorship of General 

 Tacon, but my desire to learn English made me give 

 up all the recommendations except those for New York, 

 one for Dr. Torrey and one for Mr. George Thorburn. 

 In a few days I had employment with the latter at 

 Astoria, L. I., then "Hallett's Cove." It was only a 

 year or two later that that village was named Astoria, 

 from J. Jacob Astor, who had given $10,000 for the 

 christening, etc. There I began to work my salvation, 

 material and spiritual, digging up of the ground to 

 plant trees and shrubs, and the English grammar, to 

 find the " roots of all evils." I have found some, but 

 have worn out many spades before I could rest on the 

 laurels that I have cultivated for fifty-four years. It 

 is in Astoria that I found the greatest number of the 

 cryptogamous plants which I have sent to France. It 

 was at Astoria, also, that I found the best specimen of 

 the animal kingdom's production, " a Phanerogyne ! /" 



whom I have lost in 1890 That Phanerogyne was 



not indigenous to Astoria, but was a British produc- 

 tion, of British and French blood. This plant I have 

 cultivated for fifty years, less a fortnight. When I 

 saw it for the first time I was somewhat puzzled, but in 

 a very short time I found I had discovered a typical 

 form of vegetation and felt wonderfully anxious to have 

 it in my herbarium. But it was not an ordinary speci- 



* fpavepoS Tvvrj. Plianeros Gune. Hence Phanerogyne, 

 Phaneros manifest, visible. Gune woman, wife, etc. 



