September's.1'}    Early  Botanical  and  Herb  Gardens.  423 
improbable  that  this  may  have  been  the  identical  garden  established 
by  Michaux  twenty  years  before. 
In  1 801,  David  Hosack,  at  that  time  Professor  of  Botany  in  Co- 
lumbia University,  purchased  a  tract  of  twenty  acres  of  land  in  what 
is  now  a  desirable  and  fashionable  portion  of  -New  York  City.  This 
tract  of  land  was,  at  that  time,  about  three  and  one-half  miles  out  of 
the  city,  between  Bloomingdale  and  Kingsbridge,  on  the  middle  road. 
The  whole  tract  of  land  was  intended  by  Professor  Hosack  for  a 
botanical  garden,  the  prime  object  of  which  was  to  be  the  collection 
and  cultivation  of  native  plants  of  this  country,  especially  such  as  pos- 
sess medicinal  properties  or  are  otherwise  useful.  Professor  Hosack, 
at  his  own  expense,  furnished  the  garden  with  a  variety  of  indigen- 
ous and  exotic  plants.  In  1 805  there  were  in  actual  cultivation  nearly 
1,500  species  of  plants,  largely,  if  not  entirely,  of  American  origin. 
The  following  year  Professor  Hosack  published  a  catalogue  of  the 
plants  contained  in  the  botanic  garden  at  Elgin,  in  the  vicinity  of 
New  York.  This  catalogue,  now  extremely  rare,  contains  an  ex- 
tensive list  of  the  plants  then  under  cultivation,  and  was  intended  as 
a  guide  for  students  and  others  visiting  the  gardens. 
During  the  session  of  the  New  York  State  Legislature,  in  18 10, 
an  act  was  passed  for  the  purchase  of  what  had  become  known  as 
the  Elgin  Botanical  Garden,  the  care  of  which  was  to  be  placed  in 
the  hands  of  the  Regents  of  the  University. 
Some  years  later  the  garden  was  committed  to  the  care  of  the 
Trustees  of  the  College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons  of  New  York, 
to  be  kept  by  them  "  in  a  state  of  preservation  and  in  a  condition  fit 
for  all  medical  purposes." 
With  the  deflection  of  the  fealty  of  Professor  Hosack  and  others 
from  the  College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons  and  the  inauguration 
in  New  York  City,  of  a  medical  school  under  the  patronage  of  Rut- 
gers College,  New  Jersey,  it  is  probable  that  the  custodians  of  the 
gardens  did  not  feel  that  they  were  obliged  to  maintain  an  establish- 
ment which  did  not  bring  them  any  direct  rewards  and  for  the  main- 
tenance of  which  they  were  annually  expending  a  considerable  sum 
of  money  which  they  could  ill  afford. 
The  garden  was  gradually  abandoned,  fell  into  decay  and  was 
finally  sold  for  the  benefit  of  Columbia  College. 
The  still  existing  garden  at  Harvard  was  founded  in  1805  by 
Prof.  W.  D.  Peck,  the  then  newly  elected  Professor  of  Natural  His- 
