Soon after moving to Washington, Smith prepared the 

 first comprehensive catalog of the Garden's plants. 6 He was 

 also kept busy collecting the Garden's highly sought-after 

 seeds and distributing them around the country. One of the 

 Garden's most widely distributed plants was the Boston Ivy. 7 



During Smith's nearly sixty years at the Botanic Garden, 

 the grounds became in some respects his private estate. It 

 was there, in the ivy-covered brick cottage nestled among 

 the Garden's greenhouses and plantings, that he made his 

 home and amassed in the cottage's 10-by-12-foot sitting room 

 the world's foremost collection of the works of the poet 

 Robert Burns. 8 



As Smith's collection continued to grow, it ultimately 

 spread to a second room in the cottage. Although he per- 

 sonally had insufficient funds to buy the rare editions that 

 came to his attention, he was able to add to his collection 

 on a consistent basis because of numerous gifts from prom- 



6 A list of the plants extracted from the catalog is reproduced in Ap- 

 pendix 5. In the introduction to the catalog Smith states "that the majority 

 of the plants in this list are the results of the United States Exploring Ex- 

 pedition, commanded by Captain Wilkes with several additions by other 

 officers of the navy and army. Mr. Brackenridge by a judicious system 

 of exchanging has obtained many important additions. Several of the 

 plants first discovered by the expedition are now to be found wherever 

 an exotic collection exists." William R. Smith, A Catalog of Plants in the 

 National Conservatories, A Popular Catalogue of the Extraordinary 

 Curiosities in the National Institute Arranged in the Building Belong to 

 the Patent Office, Washington: Alfred Hunter, 1854, p. 64. 



7 Smith had a very special feeling for the Boston Ivy (or Parthenocissus 

 tricuspidata [also once known as Ampelopsis veitchii], Boston Ivy's scientific 

 name). It was Smith who first brought it to this country and as a conse- 

 quence "was the foster father of the most popular vine in America." Sub- 

 sequently, he nurtured the cuttings "set out on the south side of the brick 

 building near the west end of the Botanic Garden in which [were located 

 the] offices of the superintendent and assistant superintendent," and every 

 year would send the seeds of this vine all over the country. Ancestral 

 Vine of All American Ampelopsis in the Botanic Garden, Washington 

 Sunday Star, October 20, 1907, p. 6, pt. 4. 



8 Smith's collection comprised 5,000 volumes, including "700 copies of 

 the 900 editions of Burns' poems, songs, and letters. Nearly 200 volumes 

 were a duplicate of Burns' own library. Some 4,000 volumes were made 

 up of Burns' biographies, eulogies, and quotations." Jarrett, William 

 Robertson Smith, p. 5. 



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