THE OLD GARDENS OF PENNSYLVANIA 
III —PAINTER’S ARBORETUM 
NEAR LIMA, DELAWARE CO., 
JOHN W. HARSHBERGER 
Professor of Botany. University of Pennsylvania 
HE rolling country in Delaware and Chester Counties, 
Pennsylvania, has long been noted for its flora, and the 
PA. 
number of its citizens who have followed botany and 
horticulture as an avocation is considerable. Among 
the lovers of plants, who have left substantial record of their 
fascination in this direction, none stand out more promin- 
ently than the Painter brothers, Minshall and Jacob. The 
merit of the Painters consisted in their arboretum planted by 
their own hands on a property of five hundred acres, settled by 
Jacob Minshall in 1701. It passed later to the Painters, Enos 
Painter marrying Hannah Minshall. Enos and Hannah (Min- 
shall) Painter, the parents of Minshall and Jacob Painter, 
died about 1840; the property then became the possession 
of their sons, who planted it to trees. The birth of Minshall 
was on March 6, 1801, and of his brother Jacob on June 22, 
1814 Both remained bachelors and lived together on the 
old farm, where they continued to develop until the early 
seventies the planting that was actually begun in 1825. 
A small stream, joined by another one on the grounds, 
enabled the brothers to plant a number of trees which thrive 
best in a wet soil, such as the Deciduous Cypress (Taxodium 
distichum) placed at the confluence of the inlets. These 
trees, now grown to large size, are interesting because of 
their highly developed root formation with abundant knees 
which follow the stream banks some distance away from 
the buttressed tree bases. The forest, for to such dimensions 
has the original arboretum grown, furnishes a fine specimen of 
Cryptomeria japonica, and near by, a Cedar of Lebanon 
(Cedrus libani) whose girth measures eight feet six inches. 
A widely spreading Maiden-hair tree (Ginkgo biloba) with a 
trunk five feet four inches in diameter stands in front of the 
roomy, broad-verandahed house. The success of the Cali- 
fornia Redwood (Sequoia' sempervirens) in the Eastern 
states is attested to by a tall fine tree in the southern part 
of the garden, and not far off along the highroad is the 
finest specimen in the East of the Big Tree of California 
(Sequoia gigantea), unfortun- 
ately mutilated a few years 
ago by some vandal who cut 
out its top for a Christmas 
tree. Here also, growing in the 
forest shade are representative 
specimens of Balsam fAbies bal- 
samea), Papaw (Asimina tril- 
oba), Yellowwood (Cladrastis 
lutea), Franklinia (Gordonia 
pubescens). Silver-bell (Halesia 
tetraptera), Varnish-tree (Koel- 
reuteria paniculata), Sweet-gum 
(Liquidambarstyraciflua), large- 
leaved Magnolia (Magnolia ma- 
crophylla), and Princess Tree 
(Paulownia imperialis). 
The Maples represented in 
the collection are of the English, 
Norway, Sycamore, Sugar, and 
Silver species. The Magnolias 
\ \ Creeks entering 
Delaware River 
/A> from Pa. marked 
W'A V». Y 0 are: 
.Nw ) // -A — Cobbs Creek 
! yy B— Darby “ 
\*u,»Mir e " de * se *Z%z> 
. I 1 E — Brandywine 
The figures in the 
map indicate the 
locations of the 
gardens and their 
sequence in the 
series 
form a list of seven or eight different kinds: Magnolia acuminata, 
conspicua, Fraseri, glauca, macrophylla, purpurea, tripetala. 
The Oaks (Ouercus) were not neglected in the planting opera- 
tions of years ago and are now represented by fine trees of Q. 
alba, falcata, macrocarpa, phellos, and robur, respectively 
the white, Spanish, Mosscup, Willow, and English species. The 
hardy shrubs have succeeded remarkably well in the rich soil 
HOUSE IN PAINTER 
ARBORETUM 
The porch of which is shel- 
tered by a sturdy Dwarf 
Box and a Trumpet-vine 
whose ambition remains un- 
diminished by age 
LARGE BALD CYPRESS 
(Taxodium distichum) In the 
arboretum near the stream, 
where the swampy character of 
the ground has caused a knee 
development not usual when 
the tree roots in dry soil 
257 
