THE OLD GARDENS OF PENNSYLVANIA 
I— BARTRAM ARBORETUM AND PARK 
JOHN W. HARSH BERGER 
Professor of Botany, University of Pennsylvania 
Editor’s Note: — For many years Dr. Harshberger has devoted much time and energy from a very busy life to collecting data about the begin- 
nings of gardening and plant study in and around Philadelphia. Here in this cradle of American gardening and botany he has worked over the 
relics that fortunately remain to us. and in the series of articles of which this is the first he will retrace the footsteps of those pioneers and interpret to 
us something of the significance of their work. In the modern-day rush of up-to-date activities we are in danger of losing much of the monumental 
past, and Dr Harshberger’ s studies of those early activities adds an important chapter to our records. 
DATING FROM 1731— JOHN BARTRAM’S HOUSE 
A noble survival of the period of leisurely, loving building when a man’s 
home seemed doubly his because his hands had helped to fashion it 
8 ICH in old places of botanical and horticultural interest 
is the city of Philadelphia and the country tributary 
to the city; and with the increase in wealth of its 
citizens a large number of new demesnes have been 
planted. It is the older places that are especially appealing, 
however, because their shrubs and trees have had a chance to 
develop over a long period into fully matured specimens, and this 
enables the plant lover to determine the successful, or unsuccess- 
ful, acclimatization of the introduced plants. And no arboretum 
or garden of this section has more to offer in this respect than 
the one laid out by John Bartram, the King’s botanist, at King- 
sessing, on the west bank of the Schuylkill not far from the 
junction of that river with the Delaware River. 
In the days of the colonies, and of George Washington, the 
garden of John Bartram was far out in the country; but with the 
growth of the urban limits, it is now surrounded by factories 
and rows of city houses. The arboretum had its inception in 
1730, which was about the time that work was started on the 
stone house. This is still in an excellent state of preservation. 
On its south gable is an inscription in stone — John: Ann: 
Bartram: 1731. 
Bartram’s curiosity with regard to plants was aroused by a 
Daisy which he pulled up while plowing. Securing from a book- 
dealer in the city a work upon botany, written in Latin, he ap- 
plied himself to the study of the two — Latin and Botany — until 
he had become somewhat proficient in both, and was able to 
learn more about the Daisy and the structure of the other 
common plants about him. 
Eventually he travelled extensively in the northern and 
southern states, at his own expense, observing and collecting. 
The plants thus collected on his journeys to various parts of 
America were either grown in his garden, or were sent to his 
correspondents abroad, among whom he counted Peter Collin- 
son, Carolus Linnaeus, Lord Petre, Philip Miller, and the 
dukes of Norfolk and Richmond. 
An annual allowance of thirty guineas was in time provided 
by interested persons to meet the expenses incident to his pro- 
curing seeds, roots, plants, and cuttings of American plants for 
European gardens. During the years of his active work along 
these lines, almost every ship leaving Philadelphia for London 
carried consignments of plants from him. So important indeed 
did this trade grow to be, that aneighbor, William Young, became 
a competitor and also sent to Europe many plants which he had 
collected in the southern states, and as a consequence, while on 
a visit to London, Young was appointed Queen’s botanist — 
which was a bitter pill for the King’s botanist to swallow! 
John Bartram and his son William, who fell heir to the 
property, introduced into the garden a large number of trees, 
shrubs, and herbs which they had collected on their extended 
travels. Some of these plants were of great beauty and rarity. 
One of the most interesting of these trees is the mysterious 
Gordonia Altamaha otherwise known as Franklinia. This was 
described by Michaux, discovered by the Bartrams in 1765, near 
Fort Barrington along the Altamaha River, in Georgia. It was 
obtained in some form by them and cultivated in their garden, 
but it has never been seen in the wild state since their discovery 
of it. It is therefore known only through specimens secured 
by layering from the original Bartram tree. 
John Bartram planted, so the story goes, a Cypress riding 
whip, which took root and grew and finally developed into a tree 
more than a hundred feet tall and seven feet in diameter. Al- 
though this tree has been dead for some years its base still 
