THE LURE OF THE GARDEN 



among them the finding of a rare " peionie " growing 

 wild in Kent. This discovery aroused considerable 

 excitement, until it was proved that the too-zealous 

 botanist had himself planted what later he was to dis- 

 cover. 



Of a different stamp from Johnson was Tradescant, 

 who brought out a revised edition of Gerarde's "Herb- 

 all" and who made what seems to have been the 

 second private physic garden known to England in the 

 year 1630. He was a man of fine mind and intense 

 application. His collection of natural history speci- 

 mens went to Oxford after his death. As for the gar- 

 den, that was continued for a while by his son, but in 

 1749, Sir William Watson notes that it had fallen to 

 ruin. 



Following these came the famous Chelsea Gardens, 

 which share with that of Oxford the distinction of being 

 maintained to this day. These gardens were made by 

 the Society of Apothecaries, but just when they took 

 form is not known. The first official mention of them 

 in the minutes of the society is in 1774, when certain 

 members proposed building a wall about them at their 

 own expense. They had, however, been in existence 

 long before this. Evelyn notes the fact of a " Bot- 

 anick Garden" in Westminster as early as 1658, and 

 twenty years later this garden was leased by the 

 society, probably as an addition to their own. And in 

 1691, there is a description by the president of the 



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