35 
the year 1755 he returned to practice medicine in German- 
town and vicinity. Dr. De Benneville was a remarkable 
character, was greatly respected, and long faithfully served 
the community. He loved trees and flowers, and a large 
buttonwood tree yet standing near the house was planted by 
him in the year 1768. His garden, in part surviving, was of 
the prevailing type, box-bordered. With continued pros- 
perity came a demand for something better, so larger houses 
were built, grounds were graded, and gardens were improv- 
ed. Also with -a demand for experts to plan gardens, came 
a demand for nurseries to supply stock to plant them, for 
without sources of supply, and a variety for selections, "old 
world" effects would have been impossible. Therefore in 
thinking of, or in comparing the gardens of this period with 
those of an earlier one, it should be remembered that as late 
as the year 1800 there were no nurseries of first importance 
in all America. Collectors of seeds and growers of small 
fruits and fruit-trees, there were, though these were few in 
number, and their growings were almost solely to meet 
practical demands. At this time rare and ornamental 
shrubs and trees were imported, were costly, and by reason 
of slow sailing vessels, importations were not always received 
in good condition. Near Philadelphia, 'tis true, were early the 
nurseries of John Bartram, and Humphrey Marshall, but 
their growings, though worthy, cannot be classed with the 
productions of a later period. 
The most important nursery affecting Germantown of 
the middle period, was that established in the year 1809 by 
Bernard McMahon upon a lane, which found an outlet upon 
Germantown Road, 2 miles south of Stenton, the exact and 
complete site of this nursery becoming "Oakdale Park," 
which is now Fotterall Park, Philadelphia. Here McMahon 
had a notable collection of plants, one of its features being 
30 varieties of native oak trees, among which a specimen of 
willow-oak was the most conspicuous. Bernard McMahon 
was a man of education, and at one time of means, but by 
reason of political activity, his estates were confiscated by 
