150 ESTABLISHMENT OF A NATIONAL BOTANIC GARDEN. 



the National Institution, dated November, 1842, Mr. Brackenridge 

 stated : 



The institute has also come into possession of a collection of rare and 

 highly interesting living plants, brought home also by the expedition, which has 

 since received several additions in return for seeds distributed from the same 

 source ; also a few donations of other plants from various quarters. For their 

 preservation a greenhouse 50 feet long and partitioned into two apartments 

 has been erected on the lot behind the Patent Office. The number of species 

 in cultivation amounts to 500, and with duplicates of the same there are 

 about 1,100 plants in pots over and above those now coming up from seeds. 

 * * * The live plants brought home by the squadron amounted to 254 

 species. 



The first greenhouse was constructed in 1842, presumably from the 

 appropriation of $20,000 to the naval service for transporting to 

 Washington and arranging and preserving the collections made by 

 the exploring expedition. Greenhouse construction was further con- 

 tinued on the same square during the two succeeding years, under the 

 direction and control of the Library Committee. The civil and 

 diplomatic appropriation act of March 3, 1843, contained an item of 

 $1,200 for taking care of the botanical specimens brought home by the 

 exploring expedition, and under this provision a second greenhouse 

 was erected between September, 1843, and January, 1844. The corre- 

 sponding act of June 17, 1844, with an item of $2,200 on account of 

 the botanical collections of the same expedition, provided for " enlarg- 

 ing the greenhouse," but which of the houses was so enlarged is not 

 stated. The accounts for material and labor continued from July 11 

 until October 31, 1844, and the size of the addition was given as 78 

 feet 7 inches long and the same width as the old parts. Mr. Bracken- 

 ridge deplores, in his report for 1842, the lack of a place for outdoor 

 planting, a desideratum which was evidently not supplied in that loca- 

 tion. The other regular employees in the greenhouse service seem to 

 have been a gardener or assistant florist and a laborer. 



An extension of the Patent Office Building, begun in 1849, made it 

 necessary to displace the above greenhouses 1 and they were trans- 

 ferred in 1850 to the site of the former botanic garden of the Colum- 

 bian Institute on the Mall between First and Third Streets. Mr. 

 Brackenridge continued in charge until 1853 or 1854, being also 

 employed under A. J. Downing upon the improvement of public 

 grounds in Washington during 1851 and 1852. The name of Wil- 

 liam B. Smith, who afterwards became superintendent, first appears 

 upon the pay rolls in June. 1853, as gardener or assistant florist, at 

 the rate of $1.25 a day. The greenhouses in their new location re- 

 mained, moreover, under the supervision of Capt. Wilkes until 

 August, 1854. 



The removal of the greenhouses and the work upon the new site 

 during the first year is thus described in the annual report of the 

 Commission of Public Buildings for 1850: 



1 •• In order to make room fur the foundation of the eastern wing (of the Patent 

 Office), if became necessary to remove a part of the conservatory, in which i* kppt 

 tin' ricb collection of tropical plants that were selected and preserved with so much 

 skill and caro by Capt. Wilkes and the scientific gentlemen who accompanied him on the 

 exploring expedition. The appropriation which could be applied to that object being 

 Insufficient to erect a new building adapted to the purpose of their permanent preserva- 

 tion, it was thought best to remove that part of the structure which interfered with the 

 foundation of the Patent office, and rebuild it in a cheap manner, so as to preserve the 

 plants until Congress might tix upon a spot on which a permanent building should be 

 constructed, and select adjacent grounds for the cultivation of the hardier plants of 

 the collection." (Annual Re] ort, Secretary of the Interior, Dec. 3, 1849.) 



