Colonial Garden-making 27 
war ; but an excellent demand for American shrubs 
and trees sprung up among the officers of the British 
army, to send home to gardens in England and Ger- 
many. Many an English garden still has ancient 
plants and trees from the Prince Nurseries. 
The cc Linnaean Botanic Garden and Nurseries ” 
and the “ Old American Nursery ” thrived once 
more at the close of the war, and William Prince 
the second entered in charge ; one of his earliest 
ventures of importance was the introduction of 
Lombardy Poplars. In 1798 he advertises ten 
thousand trees, ten to seventeen feet in height. 
These became the most popular tree in America, 
the emblem of democracy - - and a warmly hated 
tree as well. The eighty acres of nursery grounds 
were a centre of botanic and horticultural interest 
for the entire country ; every tree, shrub, vine, and 
plant known to England and America was eagerly 
sought for; here the important botanical treasures 
of Lewis and Clark found a home. William Prince 
wrote several notable horticultural treatises ; and 
even his trade catalogues were prized. He estab- 
lished the first steamboats between Flushing and 
New York, built roads and bridges on Long Isl- 
and, and was a public-spirited, generous citizen 
as well as a man of science. His son, William 
Robert Prince, who died in 1869, was the last to 
keep up the nurseries, which he did as a scientific 
rather than a commercial establishment. He bota- 
nized the entire length of the Atlantic States with 
Dr. Torrey, and sought for collections of trees and 
wild flowers in California with the same eagerness 
