42 



HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY OF TREES. PART I. 



garden ; and of this you meet with a great variety of examples in 

 the treatises of Dr. Plukenet, Hermann, and Commelyn. Botani- 

 cal much more even than other worldly affairs are subject to 

 great fluctuations, and this arises not only from the natural 

 decay of vegetables, and their being injured by the variety of 

 seasons, but also from the genius and disposition of the pos- 

 sessors of them. So, here, upon the death of Bishop Compton, 

 all the green-house plants and more tender exotic trees were, as 

 I am informed by Sir Hans Sloane, given to the ancestor of 

 the present Earl Tylney at Wanstead. And as the successors 

 of this bishop in the see of London were more distinguished 

 for their piety and learning than for their zeal in the promotion 

 of natural knowledge, the curiosities of this garden were not 

 attended to, but left to the management of ignorant persons ; 

 so that many of the hardy exotic trees, however valuable, were 

 removed to make way for the more ordinary productions of the 

 kitchen-garden." {Phil. Trans., xlvii. 243.) 



Collinson, speaking of Bishop Robinson, Dr. Compton's suc- 

 cessor, says, he was a man of " no such taste" as Bishop Comp- 

 ton. " He allowed his gardener to sell what he pleased, and 

 often spoiled what he could not otherwise dispose of Many 

 fine trees, come to great maturity, were cut down, to make room 

 for produce for the table. Furber of Kensington, and Gray of 

 Fulham, augmented their collections from this source, with 

 plants not otherwise to be procured." 



The following are the principal trees and shrubs which Sir 

 WiUiam Watson found in the bishop's garden in 1751 — ■ 



KcerinecB. A^cer rubrum, ^latanbides; Kegundo yVaxini- 

 folium. 



HippocastdnecE. Pav/a rubra. 



'YerehinthdcecE. Pistacia officinarum, i^hus typhina. 

 Leguminbs(S. Robhim Pseud-^icacia, GleditscL'a triacanthos, 

 Cytisus alpinus, Cercis ^Siliquastrum. 

 hmygclalece. Cerasus Laurocerasus. 

 VomdcecE. ikfespilus ^runifolia ? 

 ^ricdcecB. ^'rbutus ITxiedo. 

 ^befidcece. jDiospyros virginiana. 



Oledcea. O'rnus europae\ rotuudifolia ; Si/ringa persica 

 var. laciniata. 



LaurmecB. iaurus Benzoin. 

 \]lmdce(E. Celtis. 

 ZugldndecB. Juglans nigra. 



Cupul'ifercB. Quercus Suber, 2Mex, ^Iba ; Corylus rostrata ? 



Conifer(E. Cedrus Libani, Z/arix europae^a ; Pinus Pinea, 

 Pinaster ; ^^bies Picea ; Cupressus, the male cypress, the 

 female cypress ; Jlmiperus virginiana. 



'^mildcece. Puscus hypoglossum, raceraosus. 



