10 HISTORICAL NOTES 



famous botanist and traveller was sent from Kew to collect in India 

 between 1847 and 1851, and, among other things, introduced the splendid 

 Sikkim rhododendrons, which are now the glory of many gardens in the 

 milder parts of the kingdom. 



No name in the annals of horticulture holds a more honoured place 

 than that of Veitch. The enterprise of this well-known firm (which was 

 founded near Exeter in 1808 and removed to Chelsea in 1853) has been 

 the means of introducing more ornamental exotic plants to this country 

 than any other single agency up to the present time. They were the 

 first to exploit systematically the riches of Chile in the interests of English 

 gardens and parks. To that country in 1840 they sent one of the most 

 famous of collectors, William Lobb (1809-63), a Cornishman. During 

 that journey he introduced (for the first time in quantity) Araucaria 

 imbricata. He returned to England in 1844, but left for S. America 

 again the following year, and during the next two or three years introduced 

 many valuable shrubs, such as Berbcris Darwinii^ the Lapageria, 

 Embothrium, Desfontainea, and many of the Chilean conifers. In 1849 

 he was sent by the Messrs Veitch to California and Oregon, and, as the 

 pages of this work will show, introduced a wealth of fine trees and shrubs 

 from that region, the most wonderful for its sylva of all the regions of the 

 globe. One of Lobb's greatest achievements was the introduction of the 

 Wellingtonia (Sequoia gigantea), then but newly discovered, in quantity to 

 Britain in 1853. He also introduced in quantity many of the trees 

 discovered by Douglas. After his engagement with Messrs Veitch 

 terminated, he returned to California, where he died of paralysis 

 in 1863. 



The collections in the noted tree and shrub nursery of Messrs Veitch 

 at Coombe Wood, near Kingston, owing to the expiration of the lease, are 

 being dispersed as these pages go through the press. 



In 1836 the Horticultural Society sent K. T. Hartweg (1812-71), 

 a native of Carlsruhe in Germany, to Mexico. He remained there seven 

 years and introduced many plant's, but mostly tender ones. The trees 

 are only suitable for the warmer parts of Britain. Among them were 

 several curious oaks, still to be found in old gardens, several of the 

 remarkable Mexican pines and Abies religiosa. He went to California in 

 1846-7 and worked at Monterey and in the Upper Valley of the 

 Sacramento River. 



One of the greatest of all plant collectors was Robert Fortune 

 (1812-80), a native of Berwickshire. After spending some time in the 

 Botanic Garden at Edinburgh, he went, in 1841, to the Horticultural 

 Society's gardens at Chiswick. Two years later the Society selected him 

 to collect for them in China. In 1844 he visited the tea-growing district 

 of Ningpo, and after introducing many beautiful plants, both hardy and 



