250 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
July 22 
purgative. Mr. Purton never could increase the dose of 
powdered leaves beyond ten grains without considerable 
disturbance in the intestinal canal; nor can the same quan¬ 
tity of the fresh-dried plant be exceeded with any degree of 
safety. Experience may be too dearly purchased by trials 
of herbs so alarming in their effects as are even the British 
species of Hellebore, or it might be regretted that medical 
[The following memoir, furnished us by Mr. R. Hogg, 
author of British Pomology, is so excellent, so full of 
information now for the first time published, and is so 
relative to those magnificent displays of American 
plants by which we have recently been gratified, that 
we give it this prominent position.] 
Enthusiasm, indomitable perseverance, and intre¬ 
pidity, combined with patient endurance of privation, 
are essential to constitute a traveller properly so called; 
and in all who are entitled to that designation we find 
various degrees of these characteristics exhibited. The 
botanical travellers which this country has produced 
are not the least in importance in these respects, and 
the names of David Douglass, the two Cunninghams, 
and several others we could mention, claim to be 
recorded among the most distinguished of this or any 
other age. Rut justly celebrated as these men are, we 
question whether one of them furnishes such a com¬ 
bination of these characteristics as is to be found in 
John Teaser. 
As in this busy world of ours, and in this, the busiest 
country in it, there is much thought for the present, 
and much forgetfulness of the past, so, it is many years 
since the name of John Eraser ceased to be a familiar 
word. There are not many now living who know 
him, and we fear there are almost as few wtio ever 
heard of him. But if any there should be who ask, 
“ Who was ho ? ” we reply, he was the man to whom 
Europe is indebted for the magnificent hybrid Rhodo¬ 
dendrons that of late years have caused the “ American 
grounds” of the Old World to heave with a perfect 
ocean of beauty and grandeur. Who, then, knowing 
this, could look on that scene of splendour which for 
the last three weeks has dazzled the eye and delighted 
the senses of those who visited the tents in the Royal 
Botanic Society’s Gardens, in the Regent’s Park, and 
not venerate the name of John Fraser ? This were 
indeed distinction enough for any one man. But it was 
not alone the Rhododendron Gataxvhiense (which is the 
basis of almost all these hybrids) that he discovered and 
introduced to this country, it is to him we are indebted 
for Andromeda Jloribunda, and all that is interesting in 
Azaleas, Kalmias, Andromcdas, Vaeciniums, Magnolias, 
Menziesia gloibxdaris and ferruginea, many species of 
Oaks, Pirns, Phlox, (Enothera, and a list too long to 
enumerate here, amounting to somewhere about two 
hundred and twenty distinct species of American plants! 
all collected under hardships and privations, crowned 
with less remuneration, and with more hopes disap¬ 
pointed, than any collector either before or since has 
over experienced. Ho started on his perilous under¬ 
taking single-handed and alone, with no society to 
support, aud no patron to encourage him; his labours 
practitioners have acquired so little accurate knowledge of 
their virtues. The different species of Hellebore flourish 
under the shade of trees, and exhibit their singular blos¬ 
soms during the most sterile season. They are, therefore, 
acceptable in shrubberies, especially the Christmas Pose, 
supposed by some to be the real Black Hellebore of the 
ancients. (Smith; Marly n. Withering, Parkinson.) 
were labours of love, and his reward—a too much-for¬ 
gotten name. 
This extraordinary man was a native of Scotland; he 
was born in 1750, at Tomnacloicb, near Inverness. His 
father was a highly respectable farmer, and occupied 
the same land which his ancestors had done for many 
generations previously. How his early life was spent 
cannot now be ascertained, but it is supposed that he 
arrived in London about the year 1770, being then in 
the 20th year of his age. During the early part of his 
life lie laboured under a delicate state of health, being, 
in fact, affected with consumption. Finding his health 
declining, his friend, Admiral Campbell, then command¬ 
ing the Newfoundland Station, induced him to accom 
pany him to that Colony, with the view of arresting the 
progress of the disease; he accordingly left England, 
and arrived in Newfoundland in 1780. He had not 
been long there before he found himself thoroughly 
restored, and he devoted his time to exploring the 
botanical productions of that country. He was always an 
ardent lover of plants, and here he found an extensive 
field, and new objects for admiration, among which he 
remained till 1784. He had now acquired such a taste 
for discovery, and such a habit of restlessness, which so 
prevented him from setting down to any fixed occu¬ 
pation, that in 1785 ho set out on a journey to the 
Southern States of North America, and during two 
years he was engaged in investigating the botany of 
that country, which resulted in many valuable additions 
being made to the collections at home. It was when 
on this journey that he met, and formed an intimate 
acquaintance, with Thomas Walter, the author of the 
Flora Caroliniana , a work which Fraser undertook to 
publish on his return to London, aud which he did, as 
is evidenced by the title page, “ Londini: Sumptibus 
J. Fraser,” and to which is prefixed, by way of frontis¬ 
piece, an engraving, inscribed, " To Thomas Walter, 
Esq., this plate of the new Auriculated Magnolia is 
presented, as a testimony of gratitude and esteem, by 
his much-obliged, humble servant, John Fraser.” He 
again left England, in 1788, on a second expedition to 
the Southern States, and this was attended with as j 
great success as the former, for on this occasion also he 1 
sent home many new and valuable plants. While on 
this journey he formed an intimacy with the elder i 
Michaux, who had then just entered on his labours as 1 
collector for the French government. 
Between the years 1789 and 1790 ho twice visited ; 
North America, still with the same object in view, and 
still with the same success. During this period he 
traversed the Alleghaney Mountains, penetrated into 
several of the Indian settlements, and exposed himselt 
to an amount of privation and hardship such as lew i 
