February 27.] THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 327 
WEEKLY calendar. 
M W 
FEBRUARY' 27—MARCH 5, 1851. 
Weather near London in 1850. 
Sun 
Sun 
Moon 
Moon’s 
Clock 
Day of 
Year. 
D D 
Barometer. 
Thermo. 
Wind. 
Rain in In. 
Rises. 
Sets. 
R. & S. 
Age. 
bef. Sun. 
27 Th 
Filbert flowers. 
30.283 — 30.174 
52—27 
S.E. 
_ 
53 a. 6 
34 a. 5 
5 22 
26 
13 
2 
58 
28 P 
Toad appears. 
| 30.202 — 30.141 
52—3 7 
E. 
— 
51 
35 
5 57 
27 
12 
51 
59 
1 s 
David. Ivy-leaved Speedwell flowers. 
30.332 — 30.209 
53—38 
S.W. 
— 
VI 
V 
6 m 27 
28 
12 
40 
60 
2 Sun 
Shrove Sunday. 
1 30.290 — 30.088 
53—43 
S.W. 
— 
46 
39 
6 53 
29 
12 
28 
6l 
3 M 
Shepherd’s Purse flowers. 
29 . 878 — 29.661 
54—33 
S. 
0.02 
44 
41 
sets. 
© 
12 
15 
62 
4 Tu 
Shrove Tuesday. 
30.343 — 29.909 
44—20 
N. 
— 
42 
42 
7a.13 
1 
12 
2 
63 
1 5\V 
Lent begins. Ash Wednesday. 
30.536 — 30.526 
48—26 
w. 
40 
44 
8 19 
2 
11 
-<9 
64 
Publishing as we do, from week to week, notes upon the new plants 
introduced into this country, we have continually reimpresscd upon us 
the regret that there are so few hardy species among them. We are 
always well pleased to welcome any addition to our flowers and fruits, 
whether it has to be conducted to the stove or to the greenhouse; but 
doubly welcome is it if we can introduce it to our old friends in the open 
border. This extra welcome arises from the feeling, that such is every¬ 
body’s plant—it will be a source of interesting occupation and pleasure 
to thousands; whereas, a stove or greenhouse plant can gladden no more 
than its select tens and hundreds of possessors. We feel more interest, 
therefore, when we read of collectors departing for California, Japan, 
Northern China, and other latitudes, the plants from whence will thrive 
in our gardens without protection, than we do when we hear of similar 
missions to tropical climates, of which the plants can be cultivated here 
only in the stove. It was the knowledge that the utility of a plant is 
proportionate to its hardihood that influenced our earliest travellers in 
search of plants wisely to direct their researches to North America. The 
Tradescants, whom we noticed a short while since, and the Bartrams, 
whom we are about to notice, are examples of this early attention to 
northern latitudes. How few of those whose gardens are enriched by the 
harvests of plants first gathered ^ the Bartrams are even aware that men 
of such a name, and of such \TOrth, ever existed! This is not only a 
blame-worthy ignorance, but it is an evil; for it would be a stimulus— a 
gratification exciting to further efforts—if such men as Fortune, and 
j Hartweg, and Lobb, saw in every garden a label fixed prominently near 
■ each plant, with its name, birth-place, and Natural Order, concluding 
with the date of the discovery, and the name of the discoverer. To 
ascertain the latter fact, in some instances, would require much research, 
and this impels with ten-fold force our plea, that such facts should be 
commonly recorded ; for it is not only national ingratitude, but blindness 
to self-interest, thus to have to confess that the sendees of such men are 
I forgotten, and are now difficult to recognise. This injustice has been 
i especially visited upon the father and son, John and William Bar- 
i tram. For instance : how rarely is any one met with who knows that 
the former was the discoverer of that extraordinary example of a sensitive 
plant—the Venus’s Fly-trap (Dionoea muscipula) ; and we could mul¬ 
tiply to a great extent these examples of ungrateful ignorance—ingrati¬ 
tude towards men who will be shewn are worthy of especial remembrance 
by the following sketch, sent to us by a known correspondent (S. P., 
Rushmere ), part of which was published twenty years since, but much 
of which is now for the first time made known, 
j Richard Bartram, a respectable member of the Society of Friends, was 
born in England; he was one of the little emigrant band who accom- 
1 panied William Penn to America at the close of the l/th century, and 
settled in the county of Philadelphia. His son John, to whom he gave 
but a slender education (for schools were scarce in his youth), was an 
enthusiastic botanist, and of a most amiable disposition : he became, as 
! an American writer observes, the first naturalist the United States had, 
and the first American scientific horticulturist. John was bred a farmer, 
and laboured in that vocation for the support of his family, but, from an 
early date, was enamoured with the study of botany, and made extensive 
I tours throughout North America, to collect trees, shrubs, and plants, 
which he transferred to, and cultivated in his garden on the Schuylkill: 
this spot he purchased with the view of establishing a nursery on a 
scientific plan. Neither personal difficulties nor dangers from Indians 
deterred him in his travels; he explored the highest mountains and the 
western lakes, and, at the age of 70 years, embarked for South Carolina, 
travelled through that and the adjoining States, and Florida, ascended 
the river St. John 400 miles in a boat, and descended on the other side 
until he reached the sea. His notes on the great river, its branches and 
lakes, and the country through which he passed, were sent to the Board 
of Trade, by which they were published for the benefit of the j r ouug 
colony. 
Ur. Alexander Garden, a zealous botanist, and resident at Charlestown, 
in one of his letters to Linnaeus, dated March 15, 1755, says—“ At Mr. 
j We have long thought that the cultivation of hardy 
i border flowers has not been sufficiently regarded by 
amateurs, nor even by some gardeners. It is an opinion 
too prevalent, that after a hardy shrub, or herbaceous 
( perennial, is once planted and established, it may he 
treated with more than ordinary neglect. A “ chopping 
j round with the spade,” is often the only intended friendly 
attention they receive. Then, again, how usual is it to 
j neglect or to banish from our borders old plants, for no 
j other reason than that they are old, and to replace them 
Colden’s of New York, by good fortune, I first met with John Bartram, 
returning from the Blue Mountains. How grateful was such a meeting 
to me ! and how unusual in this part of the world ! What congratu¬ 
lations and salutations passed between us ! How happy should I be to 
pass my life with men so distinguished for genius, acuteness, and liberality, 
as well as by eminent botanical learning and experience !—men in whom 
the greatest knowledge and skill are united to a most agreeable candour.” 
Again, in a subsequent letter to Ellis, he writes—“ My worthy and kind 
friend, John Bartram, came from Philadelphia here, to see me, about 1 
eight days ago. He has stayed with me ever since, and will continue 1 
with me about ten days more before he returns, when he proposes to go j 
to Cape Fear, and from thence home by land. He goes every clay into j 
the woods, and returns at night loaded with their spoils. He has brought j 
in a shrub that I never observed, nor do either of us know what it is, | 
and, as the flowers are not put out, I cannot have an opportunity of I 
examining it.” 
John Bartram was the first person who established, in the United j 
States, a Botanic garden, and who made a transmission of its vegetable 
productions to Europe a regular business; and in this he was engaged 
for upwards of forty years, to a great extent. The gardens of England 
are filled with trees and plants, the originals of which he sent to their 
proprietors ; and Linnaeus received many presents from him of curious 
and interesting plants^ancl the seeds of others, the value of all which 
was gratefully acknowledged by the great systematist. He was early 
in correspondence with Peter Collinson, of London, who was his patron 
and warm friend, and with many of the most eminent cultivators of 
botany and natural history in Britain and on the Continent, particularly 
Gronovius, Dalibard, Sir Hans Sloane, Catesby, Uillenius, Fothergill, 
George Edwards, Philip Miller, and Targioni. A mass of letters from 
these, and others, are still preserved, but many have been lost. At the 
suggestion of Dr. Hope, of Edinburgh, the Royal Society presented him 
with a gold medal, for the services lie had rendered to the cause of 
natural history; and, through the interest of his friend Collinson, he was 
elected a member of the Royal Society of London, and of that of Stock¬ 
holm. His two sons, John and William, continued the garden,—the 
latter was the counterpart of his father in moral excellence, amiability, 
and love of natural history, and his superior in science. 
He accompanied his father during his southern journey ; and, between I 
the years 1765 and 1773, again set out by himself, but sometimes accom¬ 
panied by his son, at the request of Dr. Fothergill, of London, to search j 
the Floridas, and the western parts of Carolina and Georgia, for the 
discovery of rare and useful productions, chiefly in the vegetable king¬ 
dom. He was engaged nearly five years in these travels, mostly among 
the then existing tribes of Indians, and sent his patron, from time to 
time, large collections of plants and seeds. These were cultivated at 
Upton, near Plaistow, in Essex, the residence of Dr. Fothergill, and 
now of Samuel Gurney, Esq., and where some of them may still be seen. 
In 1775, we find he held the office of botanist to the king; and in 179L 
he published an account of these journeys in an octavo volume, entitled, 
Bartram’s Travels , See. This work, though scarce, may occasionally be 
met with among booksellers. It is written with good taste and feeling, 
and abounds with useful and agreeable information, and will be found 
particularly interesting to the naturalist and pliilantrophist. The garden 
on the Schuylkill is at present carried on by Robert Carr, its proprietor, 
who married the daughter of John ; he enlarged it to twelve acres, and 
is extensively engaged in it as a seedsman and florist. One cannot but 
regret, that the memoranda still in the hands of the family, or at least 
portions of it, should not be printed. Such men as we have spoken of 
are an honour to their profession ; they are public benefactors—the 
pioneers in science ; they enrich our gardens, and enlarge our sources of 
enjoyment. 
Meteorology of the Week. —At Chiswick, from observations 
during the last twenty-four years, the average highest and lowest tem¬ 
peratures of these days are 48.7° and 35.1°, respectively. The greatest 
heat observed during the same space was 62 °, and the lowest cold 13°. 
with others every way their inferiors, except in novelty. 
Thirdly, how often have we heard said, in reply to our 
recommendations, “Oli no! I cannot admit the Peri¬ 
winkle, nor the Dropwort. Why, they are only mid 
flowers; I have seen whole hedges lined with the first 
in Essex, and the Dropwort is quite common on the 
chalky pastures of Hampshire.” Now all these are gross 
errors. No plants repay careful culture more fully, hy 
a grateful return of beauty and fragrance ; no novelty 
can compensate for a deficiency in these, and none pos- 
No. CXXYL, Vol. V. 
