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HISTORY OF GARDENING. 



Part I. 



Thornton, of Clapham, opulent commercial men, may be mentioned as great encouragers 

 of exotic botany. The collection of Heaths, Banksias, and other Cape and Botany Bay 

 plants, in the Clapham garden, was most extensive ; and the flower-garden, one of the 

 best round the metropolis. The Duke of Marlborough, while Marquis of Blandford, 

 formed a collection of exotics at White Knights,* surpassed by none in the kingdom. 

 {Historical Account of White Knights, &c. 1820, quarto.) R. A. Salisbury, one of our 

 first botanists, and a real lover of gardening, had a fine garden and rich collection 

 at Chapel Allerton, in Yorkshire. Subsequently, he possessed the garden formed by 

 Collinson at Mill Hill. Choice collections of plants were formed at the Earl of Tan- 

 kerville's at Walton, the Duke of Northumberland's at Siou House, at the Comte 

 de Vandes' at Bayswater, Vere's at Knightsbridge, and many other places. Lee, Lod- 

 dige. Knight, Colville, and several other nurserymen, might be named as greatly 

 promoting a taste for plants and flowers by their well-stocked nurseries and publications. 

 Of these the Heatheri/, the Botanical Cabinet, and the Genus Protea, are well known 

 and esteemed works. A grand stimulus to the culture of ornamental plants, was given 

 by the publication of Curtis's Botanical Magazine, begun in 1787, and still continued 

 in monthly numbers. Here the most beautiful hardy and tender plants v>-ere figured 

 and described, and useful hints as to their culture added. Other works by Sowerby, 

 Edwards, Andrews, &c. of a similar nature, contributed to render verj' general a know- 

 ledge of, and taste for plants, and a desire of gardens and green-houses, to possess these 

 plants in a living state. Maddocks's Florists' Directory, which appeared in 1792, re- 

 vived a taste for florists' flowers, which has since been on tlis increase. 



379. The royal gardens at Kew were begun about the middle of this century, 

 under the auspices of Frederick, Prince of Wales, the father of George III. The exotic 

 department of that garden was establL'^hed chiefly through the influence of the Marquis 

 of Bute, a great encourager of botany and gardening, who placed it under the care of 

 W. Aitcn, who had long been assistant to Miller, of the Chelsea garden. Sir John 

 Hill published the ^r%t Hortus Kewensis in 17G8, but subsequent editions have been 

 published under the direction of Alton, the father and son ; the last, in five volumes, 

 the joint production of Di-. Dryander and R. Brown, is reckoned a standard work. A 

 compendium in a pocket -volume has been published, wliich enumerates about 10,000 

 species. ■ Sir Joseph Banks gave the immense collections of plants and seeds obtained in 

 his voyages to this garden, and this example has been followed by most travellers, so tliat 

 it is now the richest in England, as far as respects its catalogue, though it is generally 

 believed a greater, or at least, an equal number of species are actually cultivated in the 

 botanic garden of Liverpool. 



380. The Cambridge botanic garden was founded about the middle of the eighteenth 

 century by Dr. Walker. It has chiefly become celebrated for the useful catalogue of 

 plants (Hortus Caiitabrigiensis) published by Donn, its late curator. The garden is 

 small, and never at any one time could contain all the plants, to the number of 9000, 

 enumerated in that work. But if ever introduced there, that circumstance is supposed 

 to justify their insertion in the catalogue. 



381. The nineteenth century has commenced with the most promising appearances 

 as to floriculture and botany. The Linnsean and Horticultural Societies of London 

 have been established ; and florists' societies are increasing ; and some other gardening 

 and b^Jlanical associations forming in the counties. Tlie number of plant-collectors sent 

 out is greatly increased ; and not only do societies and public bodies go to this expense, 

 but even private persons and nursery-men. The botanic gardens of Liverpool and Hull 

 have been established, and others are in contemplation. 



382. The Liverpool garden owes its origin to the celebrated W. Roscoe. It was begun 

 in 1803, and a catalogue published in 1808 by Shepherd, the curator, containing above 

 6000 species. 



SuBSECT. 2. Gardening in Scotland, in respect to the Culture of Flowers and the 

 Establishment of Botanic Gardens. 



383. A taste for florists^ flowers, it is conjectured, was first introduced into Scotland 

 by the French weavers, who took refuge in that country in the seventeenth century, and 

 were established in a row of houses, called Picardy-row, in the suburbs of Edinburgh. 

 It seems to have spread with the apprentices of these men to Dunfermline, Glasgow, 

 Paisley, and other places ; for in Scotland, as in England, it may be remai-ked, that 

 wherever the silk, linen, or cotton manufactures, are carried on by manual labor, the 

 operators are found to possess a taste for, and to occupy part of their leisure time in the 

 culture of flowers. 



384. The oi-iginal botanic garden of Edinburgh took its rise about the year 1680, from 

 the following circumstances : " Patrick Murray, Baron of Livingston, a pupil of Dr., 

 afterwards Sir Andrev/ Balfour, in natural history, foiTned a collection of 1000 plants 

 at Livingston ; but soon afterwards dying abroad, Dr. Balfour had his collection trans- 



