146 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 162. 



once. But, after all, if one is in earnest to make the most 

 of his situation the task will always be delightful, and the 

 result will often be most satisfying. Any one can learn how 

 to propagate and plant and make trees and shrubs grow if 

 he takes time enough and interest enough, and, perhaps, the 

 best course is that usually adopted by amateurs, which 

 is to begin and profit by mistakes. But only the select 

 few can make pictures with this material after they know 

 how to grow it. Only "the prophetic eye of taste" can 

 see how a landscape will appear in twenty years — after 

 saplings have expanded into trees and a bleak hill-side is 

 converted into a forest. Fewer still are they who can cre- 

 ate an ideal scene which will be worth waiting twenty 

 years to realize while it is growing in beauty and interest 

 every day. Very instructive would be a series of pictures 

 of the grounds about some country house, beginning with 

 a map and view of the place in its original condition, and 

 followed by a succession of illustrations taken every year 

 in which the development of the scene to its ultimate 

 fulfillment could be traced. 



In this number we begin the publication of some sketches 

 of the trials and joys of an amateur in landscape-designing, 

 which will in some degree supply the place of such a pan- 

 orama. If a faithful record of failures as well as of suc- 

 cesses is given, the articles will prove as helpful as they 

 are entertaining. They certainly will find sympathetic 

 readers among that large class of persons who have at 

 some time been lured into an effort to model and decorate 

 a portion of the earth's surface in accordance with their 

 personal views, and who, of course, have never outgrown 

 their interest in such matters, for the garden-habit, when 

 once fixed, is never completely overcome. 



Rafinesque. 



TV/TR. THOMAS MEEHAN has lately printed in the Public 

 -*■'-*- Ledger, of Philadelphia, some new and interesting infor- 

 mation about the Sicilian botanist Rafinesque, one of the most 

 brilliantly endowed naturalists who have studied the flora of 

 North America — -a man who, from personal peculiarities 

 partly and partly from the literary and scientific eccentricities 

 of the latter part of his life, was not appreciated by his con- 

 temporaries in this country or valued at his true worth by the 

 generation which followed them ; and it is only in our time 

 that naturalists are beginning to realize the breadth of Rafi- 

 nesque's mental equipments and the justness and value of 

 many of his observations. His theory, for example, now uni- 

 versally acknowledged, that new species and genera are being 

 continually produced by derivation from existing forms, ap- 

 peared the utterances of a madman and entirely outside the 

 teachings of the theological faith which before Darwin's time 

 had not lost its hold on scientific thought. The burial place, 

 even, of this remarkable man long remained unknown, and it 

 is only recently that it has been located in an obscure lot in 

 Ronaldson's Cemetery, at the corner of Ninth and Catharine 

 Streets, in Philadelphia. The plan of removing his remains 

 to a more honored spot and of marking his resting-place with 

 a simple monument will be approved by every American 

 naturalist. 



Rafinesque's will, rescued from oblivion by the energy of 

 Mr. Miller Reeves, of the Public Ledger, throws much light on 

 the history and character of the man, and in bringing to light 

 his domestic history gives a clue, perhaps, to the cause of 

 some of the eccentricities of the latter years of his life. It is 

 not very creditable to the intelligence and public spirit of the 

 Philadelphia of fifty years ago to find that " one who evidently 

 lived to do good as he understood it — who supposed he would 

 have, when he made his will, not only something for his family, 

 but enough to warrant a thought of benefiting orphan girls — 

 should die in a garret on Ray Street, between Third and Fourth 

 Streets, in the midst of his great collections, with nothing but 

 a hard cot for furniture and no living soul at hand to close 

 his eyes," and that "the medal he hoped should forever re- 

 main in his family should be summarily tossed into the mint 

 as old gold ; while the manuscripts, which should be judged by 

 'The Medical Flora of the United States' a truly valuable work 

 even to this day — manuscripts on which he had depended for 

 legacies and reputation — should have been sold for $5 only, 

 while even the herbarium paper brought over $20 ; and that 

 his great collections of books and objects of natural history — 



costing $7 to catalogue, $8 to clean, $6 to carry and $4 to help 

 fill eight wagon-loads to the auction mart — should have only 

 realized $22.29." 



Rafinesque was evidently of opinion, when his will was 

 written in 1833 (he died in September, 1842), that he was a 

 man of means. In it he bequeaths his " immortal soul to 

 the Creator and Preserver of the universe, the Supreme Ruler 

 of millions of worlds soaring through space, to be sent to 

 whatever world He may deem fit and according to His wise 

 laws." Secondly, he provides that his body should be cre- 

 mated, that it " may not contaminate the earth and be the 

 cause of disease to other men." In the third clause he leaves 

 his personal property, consisting chiefly of scientific collec- 

 tions, books, patents, secrets and claims, to his sister, Georgette 

 Louisa Rafinesque, married to Paul Lanthoes, of Bordeaux, 

 and to his daughter, Emily Louisa. 



The fourth clause of the will is, perhaps, the most interest- 

 ing in the light it throws on the personal history of the testator. 

 "While residing in Sicily," it relates, "I deemed myself law- 

 fully married from 1809 to 1815 to Josephine Vaccaro, although 

 the decree of the Council of Trent forbade our regular mar- 

 riage. In 181 1 was born my daughter Emily, and in 1814 my 

 son Charles Linnaeus, who died in 1815. But on hearing of 

 my shipwreck in 181 5, Josephine suddenly married Giovanni 

 Pizzalour, a comedian, and dissipated the property I had left 

 in her hands. She also refused to send me my daughter, for 

 whom I sent in 1816 and 1817 two brigs in succession to Pa- 

 lermo, the Indian Chief and the Intelligence, wherefore I 

 have ever since refused to notice her and do not leave her a 

 single cent of my property, as she has another family by a 

 living husband." 



The sixth clause provides that his books, maps, engravings 

 and collections of natural history, etc., shall be sold and the 

 proceeds used by his executors to print and publish " my 

 manuscripts, sketches and maps in the cheapest form in 

 America or Europe in English or French, unless the copy- 

 right can be sold. These posthumous works of mine to be 

 sold at an advance of one hundred per cent, and one hundred 

 copies at least to be printed. The proceeds of these copy- 

 rights or sales are to form the fund of my inheritance, to be 

 equally divided between my sister and daughter." 



The eighth section names a number of these unpublished 

 works, namely, " The History of American Nations," " Travels 

 and Researches," "Tellers or History of Mankind," " Monu- 

 ments of America," poem on " Instability," " My Biography," 

 and places them in the hands of Professor John Torrey, of 

 New York, and of Professor Jacob Green, of Philadelphia, his 

 executors. Number seventeen provides that the gold medal, 

 which was so summarily turned into the mint, and which had 

 been awarded to Rafinesque by the Geographical Society of 

 Paris, shall be left to his nephew, Jules Rafinesque, on condition 

 that it is to be kept in the family of Rafinesque " as an honor- 

 able record and as a reward of merit." 



Section twenty-one is pathetic in view of the amount de- 

 rived from the sale of the collections and manuscripts. It 

 provides that "if the proceeds of my estate and posthumous 

 works, patents and inventions should exceed the sum of 

 $10,000, or 50,000 francs, I direct that the interest, whatever it 

 is, be put at compound interest in a savings-bank for the ben- 

 efit of the first female orphan school which shall be estab- 

 lished in the United States as near as possible on the plan of 

 Gerard's Orphan College for boys, and if none is established 

 within ten years after my decease, I give the same excess to 

 the first free library that shall be established in fire-proof 

 buildings in the United States." 



An inventory of the estate with the executors' accounts is 

 filed with the will. This last shows that when the estate was 

 settled, after all the collections and books had been sold, in- 

 cluding the $6, which seems to have been all the ready money 

 Rafinesque had at the time of his death, the estate was in- 

 debted to the executors to the. amount of $13.43. 



How We Renewed an Old Place. 



T N describing some very humble attempts to bring order 

 -*■ out of chaos in a bit of one of " the unreclaimed farms of 

 Massachusetts," my object is partly to acknowledge a debt to 

 Garden and Forest for the many practical suggestions which 

 have been a help in bringing harmony and beauty out of neg- 

 lect and desolation ; and at the same time to show its readers 

 the pleasure and interest of endeavoring to create, under its 

 inspiration, a garden and forest of one's own. 



The experiments thatl relate are by no means completed, and 

 the mistakes made will call for sympathy, as the successes will 

 claim congratulations; but to those who will kindly go with me 



