348 



ARBORETUM 



ARBORETUM 



national gardens at Kew, Edinburgh and Dublin have 

 greatly increased the knowledge of trees and stimulated 

 the taste for planting not only in Great Britain but in 

 all civilized countries. At Kew is to be found probably 

 the largest number of species of trees and shrubs which 

 has yet been gathered together, for in England more 

 plants can be made to grow together than flourish in 

 any one country on the continent of Europe or in any 

 one place in the United States. Kew, as a garden in 

 connection with royal residences has existed since the 

 middle of the sixteenth century; in 1841 it was created 

 a national garden and its growth and improvement have 

 continued uninterruptedly ever since. In the older part s 

 of the garden many noble trees testify to the age of 

 the establishment, but it was not until 1848 that the 

 systematic planting of an arboretum was begun by Sir 

 William Hooker, the first director of the national garden. 

 The reputation of the succeeding directors of Kew, its 

 scientific standing and the interest of the nation in its 

 garden have made it possible to gather there plants 

 from all parts of the world; and although much of the 

 soil occupied by the arboretum is not well suited for 

 the growth of trees, and the smoke of the city makes 

 the cultivation of conifers and many other evergreen 

 plants difficult and sometimes impossible, every serious 

 student of trees must avail himself of the great oppor- 

 tunities for study which this arboretum affords. A 

 collection of trees was once planted by the Horticul- 

 tural Society of London at its gardens in Chelsea; this 

 was given up by the Society many years ago. On many 

 of the large private estates in England, Scotland and 

 Ireland there are important arboreta; and the desire 

 of the owners of British estates to cultivate new trees, 

 especially conifers, stimulated the botanical explora- 

 ations in all the temperate parts of the world in the first 

 half of the nineteenth century undertaken by the Horti- 

 cultural Society of London and by some of the large 

 firms of European nurserymen. Some of these private 

 collections have been of great value to students. 



In connection with the Quinta Normale and the 

 Museum of Natural History in San Diego in Chile is a 

 small but remarkable arboretum in which are found the 

 oaks, hickories, magnolias and other trees of eastern 

 North America flourishing as they flourish nowhere 

 else outside the United States, and with these the pop- 

 lars and birches of northern Europe are growing with 

 the cypresses and pines of California, and the eucalypti 

 of Australia. 



Few interesting collections of trees have been made 

 in North America. In 1728 John Bartram, a Pennsyl- 

 vania farmer and later distinguished as a traveler and 

 botanist, purchased a piece of land on the banks of the 

 Schuylkill River about three miles from Philadelphia 

 and established a botanic garden, in which he planted 

 a number of American trees collected in his various 

 journeys, which extended from the shores of Lake 

 Ontario to Florida, or received from his correspondents 

 in Europe; among these were some of the famous 

 botanists of the day. Bartram was appointed botan- 

 ist to the King of England and, through his labors, 

 many American trees were introduced into England 

 and many Old World plants first reached America. 

 Bartram died in 1777. Later his garden was used as a 

 nursery and, after having passed through the hands of 

 various owners, was bought in 1891 by the city of Phila- 

 delphia and is now a public park. A few only of the 

 trees planted by John Bartram are now standing. 

 Fig. 308. 



Bartram by his own labors and through his European 

 correspondents attained much influence, and is one of 

 the most interesting figures among those who have 

 increased the knowledge of American trees. Not the 

 least important of his good works was the inspiration 

 which his cousin, Humphrey Marshall, another Penn- 

 sylvania farmer, derived from his example and advice. 

 Marshall in 1773 made a garden and planted a number 



of trees near the Bradford Meeting-house now in the 

 village of Marshalltown, a few miles from West Chester, 

 traveled widely to study and collect plants, and in 17v~i 

 published the "Arbustum Americanum," a description 

 of the trees and shrubs indigenous to the United States. 

 This was the first book on plants written by a native- 

 born American. Many of the trees planted by Marshall 

 have grown to a great size and are still in a flourishing 

 condition. His arboretum is now the most interesting 

 of the old collections of American trees. 



The garden and arboretum planted about 1830 by 

 John Evans, another Pennsylvania!!, in Delaware 

 County about twelve miles west of Philadelphia, con- 

 tained for many years one of the largest collections of 

 plants in the United States. Evans kept up an active 

 correspondence with Sir William Hooker, the Director 

 of the Royal Gardens at Kew, from whom ho received 

 the seeds of many Himalayan and other rare and little- 

 known plants. A few only of the trees planted by Evans, 

 who died in 1862, are now alive; among them is probably 

 the largest specimen of the European hop hornbeam 

 in the United States. 



In 1841 Henry Winthrop Sargent, of Boston, 

 bought Wodenethe, an estate of twenty-two acres 

 above Fishkill Landing, New York, overlooking the 

 Hudson River. A friend and pupil of his neighbor, A. 

 J. Downing, Sargent through Downing's influence 

 became interested in the cultivation of trees and espe- 

 cially of conifers. At Wodenethe every coniferous plant 

 that could be obtained was tested, and for forty years 

 it remained the most important place in the United 

 States for obtaining information on the value of these 

 plants for cultivation in this country. If the results of 

 Sargent's experiments were largely negative, that is if 

 they were more successful in showing what trees were 

 not suitable for the eastern states than in adding 

 numerous species to the number of conifers which can 

 be permanently grown here, they were of great interest 

 and value to the country. For many years the influence 

 of H. W. Sargent among lovers of country life in the 

 United States was considerable and has done much in 

 the last sixty years toward increasing the knowledge of 

 trees and directing sound horticultural taste. To this 

 influence is largely due the horticultural careers of 

 his relatives, Horatio Hollis Hunnewell and Charles 

 Sprague Sargent. 



In 1852 Mr. Hunnewell began the development of an 

 estate in the valley of the Charles River at Natick (now 

 Wellesley), about twelve miles west of Boston. Here, 

 with the aid of his relative at Wodenethe, he planted 

 coniferous trees for which the well-drained gravelly 

 soil proved to be suited. Past middle life when he 

 began to plant his trees, he was able to see many of them 

 attain a large size and his pinetum, in number of spe- 

 cies and beauty of individuals, the most important in 

 the United States. In the hands of a younger Hunne- 

 well, it is constantly enlarged and improved, and 

 Wellesley is still one of the most interesting places in 

 America for the lover of cultivated trees. 



About 1870 Josiah Hoopes, author of "The Book 

 of Evergreens," the only American book on the subject, 

 planted in connection with his nursery in West Chester, 

 Pennsylvania, a large number of coniferous trees. This 

 at the time was one of the best collections of these 

 plants that had been made in' the United States. 

 Twenty-five years later, and after Mr. Hoopes' death, 

 although a large number of the species had disappeared, 

 many survived to show their beauty and value as orna- 

 mental trees. The Hoopes pinetum should be visited 

 by everyone interested in the cultivation of conifers. 



'in 1874 Charles A. Dana, the distinguished jour- 

 nalist, bought Dosoris, an island about fifty acres in 

 extent off the north shore of Long Island, near (!len 

 Cove, and began planting trees. Great intelligence and 

 industry was shown in this undertaking, and in the 

 Dosoris collection are still found many rare trees and 



