JOH1ST BARTRAM. 25 



guished savans of Europe. Linnaeus, Collinson, Gronovius, Foth- 

 ergill, Sir Hans Sloane, and many others, were constant!} 7 receiving 

 from him the productions of the New World ; and thousands of the 

 finest trees in the parks of Europe have been reared from seeds 

 sent from Bartram's Botanic Garden. His contributions to the 

 gardens of Europe included not only forest trees and plants, but 

 native varieties of fruit; for in February, 1759, Peter Collinson 

 writes: "We were sadly disappointed, being in hopes of seeing 

 some grafts of the true Newtown Pippin ; 1 but there was none. 

 Praj r remember another year ; for what comes from you are deli- 

 cious fruit if our sun will ripen them to such perfection. Our 

 friend Benjamin 2 had a fine parcel of the apples come over this 

 year, which I shared ; " 8 and he afterwards expresses his obliga- 

 tions to Bar tram for grafting the Newtown Pippin for him. In 

 return, Bartram received from his European correspondents all the 

 most valuable trees, fruits, and flowers of their gardens. 



Bartram was a skilful farmer as well as gardener ; and his corre- 

 spondence, edited and published in 1849 by Dr. William Darling- 

 ton, contains many incidental remarks throwing light on the 

 history of horticulture. Thus he writes to Col. W. Byrd of 

 Virginia, in 1739, that he had made that spring several micro- 

 scopical observations upon the male and female parts in vegeta- 

 bles, to oblige some ingenious botanists in Ley den, and had 

 demonstrated the truth of the sexual system, then just published 

 to the world by Linnaeus. He adds, " I have made several suc- 

 cessful experiments of joining several species of the same genus, 

 whereby I have obtained curious mixed colors in flowers, never 

 known before ; but this requires an accurate observation and judg- 

 ment to know the precise time." 4 This was undoubtedly the first 

 experiment in hybridizing ever made in this country. 



An appendix to a letter to Philip Miller gives interesting infor- 

 mation in regard to the introduction of some of our most common 

 weeds. After mentioning those frequenting the meadows, pas- 

 tures, and cornfields, he says, those most troublesome in the 

 kitchen gardens were the chickweed, henbit, shepherd's purse, wild 



1 The Newtown Pippin originated on the estate of Gershom Moore in Newtown, L.I., 

 near the close of the seventeenth century. After enduring for more than a hundred years, 

 the original tree died about 1805, from excessive cutting and exhaustion. Report of U. 8- 

 Commisnoner of Patents, 1853, p. 261. 



2 Franklin. 



3 Darlington's Memorials, p. 217. 

 * Ibid., p. 315. 



