belief that they may be successfully cultivated in the 

 Southern parts of the Union. Tangier, whence these 

 grains and seeds are brought, is in the latitude of 35 

 North; though black frosts are rare, white frosts are fre- 

 quent there in January, February and March. 



Those members of Congress who may desire to obtain 

 a portion of either or all of these objects will please make 

 known their wishes to Mr. Dickins, the Secretary of the 

 Institute. 24 



Plants Cultivated in the Institute's Garden 



The plants collected as a result of the widely distributed cir- 

 cular and accompanying instructions were presumably 

 placed in the Botanic Garden. These plants, however, con- 

 stituted only a portion of the material cultivated in the 

 Garden during the Institute's history. In 1824, William Elliot, 

 a member of both the Institute and the Botanical Society of 

 Washington, prepared a complete "List of Plants in the 

 Botanic Garden of the Columbian Institute, ,, but did not iden- 

 tify the source of these materials or list the day they were 

 acquired. 25 



Maintaining the Garden 



Maintenance of the Garden itself was at best sporadic. The 

 Institute never retained a full-time gardener and frequently 

 employed no one in this capacity at all. As a consequence, 

 when work was done on the Garden, it was accomplished 

 by temporary help or by individuals who were occasional- 

 ly allowed to occupy the house located on the grounds and 

 farm a small portion of the land. There were a few instances 

 when small sums of money were expended on cultivating, 

 plowing, or fertilizing portions of the ground, but the total 

 sum expended for such work was quite small. 



John Foy, who during the existence of the Institute was 

 the gardener for the Capitol grounds, periodically assisted 

 in a supervisory capacity, but this was done in his spare time 



24 Editorial, National Intelligencer, May 22, 1828, p. 3. See also Pinkett, 

 Early Agricultural Societies in D.C., p. 43. 



25 William Elliot's handwritten list is illegible in several places, as is 

 indicated in the alphabetized version of the list reproduced in Appendix 2. 



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