A^ptJembe?.hiam'}    Early  Botanical  and  Herb  Gardens.  417 
During  the  Colonial  period  there  appear  to  have  been  a  number 
of  gardens  in  Virginia,  of  more  than  local  reputation.  In  the  .autumn 
of  1737,  John  Bartram  made  an  extensive  tour  through  Maryland 
and  Virginia,  in  the  course  of  which  he  visited  a  number  of  these 
gardens.  His  subsequent  report  of  this  trip,  to  Peter  Collinson, 
does  not  appear  to  have  been  sufficiently  complete  for  his  corre- 
spondent, who  inquires:  "  I  am  informed  my  friend  Custis  is  a  very 
curious  man  ;  pray  what  didst  thou  see  new  in  his  garden  ?  But  I 
am  told  Colonel  Byrd  has  the  best  garden  in  Virginia,  and  a  pretty 
green  house,  well  furnished  with  orange  trees." 
During  this  trip  John  Bartram  visited  the  garden  of  John  Clayton, 
an  eminent  botanist  of  Virginia  and  also  a  friend  and  correspondent 
of  Peter  Collinson.  Clayton  was  born  at  Fulham,  in  the  county  of 
Kent,  England,  about  1685,  and  came  to  America  with  his  father  in 
1705.  He  died  in  Virginia,  December  15,  1773,  in  the  eighty-eighth 
year  of  his  age.  In  1739,  Gronovius,  Professor  of  Botany  at  Leyden, 
published  a  "  Flora  Virginica,"  contributed  by  John  Clayton.  His 
name  is  also  well  known  to  all  plant  lovers  through  being  associated 
with  the  well-known  and  widely  admired  "  Claytonia  Virginica." 
Clayton  appears  to  have  had  quite  an  extensive  garden  and  had 
numerous  correspondents  in  Europe,  as  well  as  in  the  Northern 
Colonies,  who  supplied  him  with  new  and  interesting  plants  and  seeds 
in  exchange  for  the  many  and  varied  specimens  that  he  was  able  to 
furnish  them. 
Another  garden,  of  the  Colonial  period,  that  attracted  consider- 
able attention  was  that  owned  by  Dr.  Alexander  Garden,  at  Charles- 
ton, S.  C.  Dr.  Garden  was  a  native  of  Scotland  and  a  graduate 
of  Edinburgh.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Royal  Society  and  de- 
voted much  time  to  the  study  of  scientific  subjects  and  to  the  culti- 
vation of  interesting  and  rare  plants.  In  1754  he  wrote  a  description 
of  a  new  plant,  "  Gardenia,"  and  in  1764  published  an  account  of  the 
Spigelia  Marylandica,  or  Carolina  pink- root. 
During  the  American  Revolution  Dr.  Garden  remained  loyal  to 
the  British  Government,  in  consequence  whereof  he  suffered,  not 
alone  the  loss  of  patients  and  friends,  but  also  considerable  loss  of 
property. 
Garden  returned  to  England,  about  the  close  of  the  war,  and  lived 
for  some  time  in  London,  where  he  died,  April  15,  1 791 ,  in  the 
sixty-second  year  of  his  age. 
