6 HISTORICAL NOTES 



who planted largely at Whitton, near Hounslow. He has been described 

 indeed as the most assiduous collector and planter of his time in England, 

 and was by Pope nicknamed "the tree-monger." Although the Whitton 

 property has latterly been cut up into lots for building, there were, when I 

 visited it in 1903, many fine trees planted by the Duke still thriving, 

 notably the grove of cedars of Lebanon said to have been raised from 

 seed in 1725, a group of magnificent deciduous cypresses, red maple, etc. 

 After his death, in 1761, many of the smaller trees were removed to the 

 then newly formed arboretum at Kew, where a few of them still stand in 

 the vicinity of the Temple of the Sun. 



A name which will be found to occur frequently in the body of this 

 work is that of Peter Collinson (1694-1768), an amateur who certainly 

 stands out as one of the chief patrons of arboriculture in the eighteenth 

 century. Collinson was a linen-draper in London, in which business he 

 appears to have amassed a considerable fortune. In his later years he 

 planted largely in his garden at Mill Hill, near Hendon. The site is now 

 occupied by the Mill Hill School and its grounds. Collinson was 

 instrumental in introducing many new plants, more especially N. 

 American ones. 



Among botanical cultivators of the eighteenth century two names are 

 conspicuous: Phillip Miller (1691-1771) and William Aiton. Miller, 

 so well known by his Dictionary, which passed into eight editions in his 

 lifetime, was curator of the Physic Garden at Chelsea, an institution he is 

 said to have raised to the first position among all botanic gardens of the 

 time. Aiton (1731-93) was his pupil, and by him was recommended to 

 the Dowager Princess of Wales, in 1759, to take charge of the botanic 

 garden at Kew, founded that year, an event destined to have so important 

 an influence on horticulture and botany in the British Empire. Aiton died 

 in 1793, and his memory lives chiefly as the author of the Hortus 

 Kewensis, a work which enumerates and gives a brief description of 

 5500 species of plants with their date of introduction. This work is, in 

 fact, the chief source of information in regard to the introduction of 

 exotic plants up to the time of its publication. 



A cultivator of whom Collinson and others wrote in eulogistic terms 

 was Lord Petre (1713-42), who planted extensively at Thorndon Hall, in 

 Essex. Writing in lament of his early death, Collinson calls him the 

 " worthiest of men," and his loss the " greatest that botany or gardening 

 ever felt in this island." 



The introduction of trees and shrubs from N. America in the latter 

 half of the eighteenth century owes much to the two Bartrams John 

 (1699-1777) and his son William (1729-1823). John Bartram is 

 famous as the first American-born botanist, and the founder of the first 

 American botanic garden. This garden, situated in Philadelphia, is still 



