THE LURE OF THE GARDEN 
among them the finding of a rare “ peionie ” growing 
wild in Kent. This discovery aroused considerable 
excitement, until it was proved that the too-zealous 
botanist had himself planted what later he was to dis¬ 
cover. 
Of a different stamp from Johnson was Tradescant, 
who brought out a revised edition of Gerarde’s ‘‘Herb- 
air’ and who made what seems to have been the 
second private physic garden known to England in the 
year 1630. He was a man of fine mind and intense 
application. His collection of natural history speci¬ 
mens went to Oxford after his death. As for the gar¬ 
den, that was continued for a while by his son, but in 
1749, Sir William Watson notes that it had fallen to 
ruin. 
Following these came the famous Chelsea Gardens, 
which share with that of Oxford the distinction of being 
maintained to this day. These gardens were made by 
the Society of Apothecaries, but just when they took 
form is not known. The first official mention of them 
in the minutes of the society is in 1774, when certain 
members proposed building a wall about them at their 
own expense. They had, however, been in existence 
long before this. Evelyn notes the fact of a “ Bot- 
anick Garden” in Westminster as early as 1658, and 
twenty years later this garden was leased by the 
society, probably as an addition to their own. And in 
1691, there is a description by the president of the 
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