THE OLD GARDENS OE PENNSYLVANIA 
V.— FAIRMOUNT PARK, 
PHILADELPHIA, AS AN ARBORETUM 
JOHN W. HARSH BERGER 
Professor of Botany, University of Pennsylvania 
„ A1RMOUNT PARK, the pleasure ground of the people 
of Philadelphia, comprises more than three thousand, 
f' ve hundred acres of land, rich in scenic beauty with 
JxS hills and valleys, forests and glades. It is bisected by 
the Schuylkill River, which runs its whole length between steep 
hills and grassy bottom lands. The Wissahickon, the chief 
affluent of the Schuylkill within the park limits, is one of the 
most picturesque streams in America with its densely wooded 
banks, its dark Hemlock forests, its shores with overhanging 
rocks, and the numerous cold springs and streams like Cresheim 
Creek, which empty into it from both the left and right sides. 
The beginning of this park was the purchase by the city, on 
June 28th, 1812, of five acres of ground at Morris’s Hill, and the 
subsequent construction of a city water works of which Fred- 
erick Graff was the designer and the first engineer. His labors 
are now commemorated by a marble bust under a Gothic canopy 
at the centre of the grounds that, as Fairmount Gardens were 
The figures in the 
map indicate the 
locations of the 
gardens and their 
sequence in the 
series 
nut planted by General Lafayette in 1824 still stands and was 
photographed by me as recently as February 10th, 1917. Wash- 
ington’s choice was a Spanish Chestnut tree which he planted 
with his cane. Another ancient tree near the mansion at 
Belmont is an old English Walnut. Near the old mansion of 
J udge Peters were also a number of large White Pines. 
1 he rarest and most interesting trees, however, are found 
on the Landsdowne Plateau, where Hor- 
ticultural Hall, built for the Centennial 
of 1876, stands. The Michaux Grove 
with its wealth of material was estab- 
lished here. One-half the money left by 
Francois Andre Michaux, the French 
botanist to the American Philosophical 
Society in 1825, was given to Fairmount 
Park to begin a collection of trees that 
was to contain two specimens of every 
Oak suited to the climate. 
Near the main road skirting the Hor- 
ticultural Grounds is a fine specimen of 
the Golden Larch (Pseudolarix Kaemp- 
feri), a deciduous coniferous tree which 
in China occasionally reaches a height of 
one hundred to one hundred and thirty 
feet and a trunk diameter of two to three 
feet thick. The fine specimen in Fair- 
mount Park has almost reached theabove 
opened to the public back in 1825 and soon be- 
came the show place of the city. 
The park was enlarged by the purchase of the 
Lemon Hill Estate covering forty acres, which 
comprised the country seat of Robert Morris, the 
financier of the American Revolution. By the 
purchase and gift of farm land, woodland, and 
many famous country seats Fairmount Park has 
gradually increased to its present large extent. 
Some of the historic old mansions, which dignified 
the grounds incorporated into Fairmount Park, 
have been left standing and are used, either as 
buildings for the convenience of the public, or as 
the executive offices of the park guards and other 
officials. Eaglesfield, Sweet Brier, Landsdowne, and 
Solitude are among the country seats so included, 
also Belmont Mansion, erected in 1745, the home 
of Judge Peters, who entertained Washington and 
Lafayette; both of whom at the time of their 
visits planted trees there. The large Black Wal- 
IN 
LANDSDOWNE 
VALLEY 
The meandering 
stream, overarched 
by an artistic 
bridge now forms 
a feature in the 
Japanese garden of 
Fairmount Park 
HARDY 
ORANGE IN 
FULL FLOWER 
Poncirus or Citrus 
trifoliata is an at- 
tractive flowering 
shrub with its pro- 
fusion of white 
flowers in spring. 
This shrub makes 
a fine hedge in the 
south and is hardy 
at Garden City, L. I. 
& 
JU0® *• 
" - r- 
44 
