THE OLD GARDENS OF PENNSYLVANIA 
II.— HUMPHRY MARSHALLS 
JOHN W. HARSHBERGER 
Professor of Botany, University of Pennsylvania 
One of our Earliest Arboretums Founded 
in 1773 .by Humphry Marshall, Author 
of the First American Botany, and 
Cousin of that other Distinguished 
Pioneer Horticulturist, John Bartram 
[Editor's Note. — This series of pilgrimages to the sites 
of the early gardens will he continued in subsequent numbers 
and will cover the region shown in the accompanying map, 
each location being numbered in the order of its treatment. 
The heavy lines show the available automobile roads.] 
’UMPHRY MARSHALL, whose descendants still live 
in Chester County, Pennsylvania, was a cousin of 
John Bartram. (See October Garden Magazine, p. 
78) . He had similar tastes and his garden was almost 
as celebrated as the one at Kingsessing. Humphry Marshall 
was born October 10, 1722, of English ancestry, who came to 
Pennsylvania about the year 1697. He lived first on a farm 
near the west [branch of Brandywine Creek, but after his fa- 
ther’s death (1767) he removed to his newly 
erected house on a tract of land which he had 
purchased near the Bradford meeting-house, 
adjoining the site of the present village of 
Marshallton. The arboretum was founded in 
the year 1773. 
Prior to the establishment of the garden at 
Marshallton, he had been engaged in collecting 
native plants and seeds for shipment to Europe, 
but subsequently, with the assistance of his 
nephew, Dr. Moses Marshall, he began to plant 
his botanic treasures at home. In 1849 when 
Dr. William Darlington wrote his “ Memorials 
of John Bartram and Humphry Marshall,” he 
stated that a large number of the trees still 
survived, although the garden from neglect, 
had become a wilderness; while a number of our 
noble forest trees, such as the Oaks, Pines, and 
Magnolias (Magnolia acuminata), all planted 
by the hands of the founder, had now attained 
a majestic size. A writer in 1893, and one in 1894, describe 
the garden, as it appeared to them. The house was embow- 
ered in trees, among which was a large and perfect specimen of 
the Bartram Oak (Ouercus heterophylla) raised from an acorn 
brought from Bartram’s garden. Nearby was a splendid 
Cucumber-tree (Magnolia acuminata). There were then several 
large Black Birches, a tall Hackberry, some Buckeyes, a Euro- 
pean Larch, several Rhododendrons and Box-trees. 
THE OLD HOUSE 
West end (right) and 
rear (below) as the place 
is today, some of the old 
trees etc., that had over- 
grown having been cut 
away in recent years 
