THE BOTANISTS OF PHILADELPHIA. 171 



This soon decayed into a rich vegetable mould that pro- 

 moted the growth of the plant, and soon enabled it to take 

 care of itself. 



The extent of the Evans collection is not known. No 

 catalogue of -it was ever published. In the number of 

 distinct species of trees and shrubbery, this collection may, 

 without doubt, be set down as unrivalled in John Evans' 

 day, while in herbaceous plants it had very few equals. To 

 many of the rare trees and shrubs, appropriate leaden labels 

 were attached. 



With John Bartram and Humphry Marshall, John 

 Evans completed a trio of self-taught American botanists, 

 all born within the limits of old Chester County, and the 

 first and last within the bounds of the present County 

 of Delaware. They were men of like tastes, and were alike 

 in their industrial and frugal habits. They were all men 

 of the strictest integrity and highest moral worth, and 

 especially were they alike as devoted students of the vege- 

 table kingdom. Each reared his own monument in the 

 large collection of growing plants he left behind him. 



John Evans lived in an age when botanical knowledge 

 was more readily acquired, and rare specimens of plants 

 more easily collected than in the times of his predecessors. 

 Hence, the vastly greater extent of his collection, while it is 

 so highly creditable to him, is no disparagement to them. 

 But his attention was not confined to plants alone. He had 

 acquired a good knowledge of mineralogy, geology and 

 zoology. On the 27th day of December, 1834, John Evans 

 became a member of the Delaware County Institute of 

 Science, and it is probable that the study of these sciences 

 commenced about that period. 



