The Cypress of Painters' Arboretum 



A Cypress tree, worthy of note, stands in the old botanic garden 

 near Media, Penn., known as Painters' Arboretum. In 1825, the two 

 botanists, Jacob and Minshall Painter, began planting their collec- 

 tion of rare shrubs and trees on their home farm, a tract of land taken 

 up by patents from William Penn, and settled by Jacob Minshall in 

 1701. The old place bears the distinction of never having been sold, 

 but always descending from one member of the family to another. 



One of the most interesting features of the garden today, is the 

 old cypress, which illustrates in a striking manner the injBuence of 

 environment upon growth. This tree, which bears flat narrow leaves 

 like an evergreen, sheds them in the autumn and further surprises us 

 by altering its appearance according to the moisture of the soil in 

 which it grows. When standing near water or in swampy groimd, 

 its branches are low and spreading, and all about its base, as in the 

 case of the Painters' cypress, curious knobby growths, called knees, 

 push up through the grass. 



They are evidently extensions of the roots and are for the pur- 

 pose of conveying air to them, for when the water is drained off, the 

 knees disappear as though their mission had been accomplished. They 

 are not to be found around a cypress standing in dry grovmd, and in 

 such surroimdings the tree changes its appearance still more, rising 

 tall and slim, and bearing its branches chiefly on the upper part of 

 the trunk. 



The Elgin Yews 



The ancient spreading yew trees of the South Court of Columbia 

 University, New York City, were for long years familiar features 

 of the college gi-ovmds, forming as they did a cherished link between 

 the University of the present day and that of one hundred years ago. 

 They were survivors of the Elgin Botanic Garden founded by Dr. 

 David Hosack, Professor of Botany and Materia Medica in the col- 

 lege from 1795 to 1811. 



Having long wished for a botanic garden, the doctor, in 1797, 

 began urging the trustees to have one planted. Failing to accomplish 

 this, on account of lack of funds, he petitioned the Legislature, but 

 again no success. At length, in 1801, he purchased with his own 

 money, twenty acres on the Middle Road between Bloomingdale and 

 King's Bridge, about three miles and a half distant from the city, 

 and named the little park the Elgin Botanic Garden, 



Here he built a conservatory and two hot houses, surroimding 

 them with a "belt of forest trees and shrubs, both native and exotic." 

 A large oil painting of the garden at that time, hangs in the Adminis- 

 tration Building, Bronx Park. 



In 1811, the State purchased the garden from him, but three years 

 later ordered it broken up, probably because the expense of maintain- 

 ing it was too heavy, and directed "a list of the different kinds of 



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