216 
SJippleme}it  to 
JOUh’iVAL  Oh'  EORTICULTURE  AXD  COTTAGE  GARDENER, 
March  1C,  190'J. 
A  Quartette  of  Scofo=Americans. 
By  Dr.  John  H.  Wilson,  F.R.S.E.,  St.  Andrews. 
HE  position  of  Scotsmen  in  the  horticultural  world  In^ 
for  long  boon  one  of  distinction  and  honour.  Their 
success  in  regions  beyond  the  bounds  of  Caledonia  has 
perhaps  in  no  sphere  been  more  marked  than  in  that  of 
gardiming.  The  counsel  lacojiically  expressed  in  “Hold  South” 
has  been  acted  up  to  by  many  of  the  strongest  of  the  northern 
race  of  gardeners,  and  in  many  instances  the  (step  has  led  to 
personal  progress  and  the  advancement  of  the  profession. 
In  a  visit  to  America  a  few  yeans  ago  it  was  our  privilege  to 
meet  some  grand  exami)les  of  the  Scotsman  who  has  answered 
the  call  to  occupation  of  a  wider  sphei’c  of  duty.  It  is  doubtful 
if  any  finer  type  could  be  named  than  the  late  IMi’.  William 
Saunders,  superintendent  of  the  grounds  of  the  Agricultural 
Department  at  Washington.  Mr.  Saunders  was  born  at  Green- 
side  Place,  St.  Andrews,  Fifeshire,  in  1822,  his  father  being  a 
gardener  there.  Young  Saunders  .saw  the  foundation  stone  of 
the  Madras  College  of  St.  Andrews  laid,  and  he  was  one  of  the 
first  pupils  in  that  famous  seminary.  Having  chosen  the  pro¬ 
fession  of  gardening,  ho  was  apprenticed  to  it  at  a  private  place 
near  Newburgh-on-Tay. 
Mr.  Saunders  made  a  collection  of  the  wild  plants  of  the 
districts  he  visited,  to  the  number  of  some  nine  hundred,  includ¬ 
ing  many  mosses.  Our  friend’s  career  in  the  I  nited  States  was 
one  of  strenuous  eifort  and  great  progress.  He  landed  at  ]Ne;v 
York  on  the  3lst  March.  1848,  in  his  twenty-sixth  year,  and  his 
first  appointment  was  at  Newbaven,  Conn.  Six  years  later  he 
entered  into  partnership  with  Thomas  Meehan,  at  GennantoAvn, 
and  the  business  became  a  large  one,  embracing  as  it  did  laiid- 
.‘■cape  gardening  and  hothouse  building.  Mr.  Saunders’  work  as 
a  landscape  gardener  was  of  the  highest  order,  his  name  being 
associated  in  this  connection  witli  some  of  tlie  finest  parks  and 
cemeteries  in  the  States,  as  Fairmount  Park,  Philadelphia  ; 
Cliftoim  Park,  Baltimore;  (Jettysburg  Cemetery,  Pa.,  and  the 
grounds  of  tlie  Agricultural  Department.  His  ideas  were  fol¬ 
lowed  in  terracing  the  A\estern  front  of  the  Capitol,  and  he  took 
a  large  part,  along  with  Mr.  Smith,  the  director  of  the  Washing¬ 
ton  Botanical  Garden,  in  i)lanning  and  planting  the  parks  and 
streets  of  that  finely  umbrageous  city. 
Among  many  achievements  in  introducing  and  spreading 
economic  plants  in  the  States,  one  of  tlie  most  memorable  was 
.the  introduction  of  the  Navel  Orange,  often  called  the  Washing¬ 
ton  Navel,  into  California.  He  secured  a  few  young  trees  from 
Bahia,  Brazil,  and  from  the.'^e  he  raised  stock  for  distribution. 
Mr.  Saunders’  contributions  to  the  literature  of  general  horti¬ 
culture,  landscape  gardening,  and  agriculture,  were  very 
numerous  and  of  high  value.  Hisi  first  article  appeared  in 
'  Hovey’s  Magazine”  in  the  year  of  his  arrival  in  America,  and 
he  was  for  many  years  assistant  editor  of  "The  Horticulturist.” 
His  social  sympathies  were  very  marked,  and  found  expression 
in  the  great  part  he  took  in  the  institution  of  the  association 
known  as  the  Patrons  of  Husbandry,  or  National  Grange,  an 
organisation  Avhich  has  a  very  large  membership  and  wields  great 
influence  in  the  States. 
In  the  same  fair  city  we  met  another  Scotsman,  and  one  akin 
to  Air.  Saunders  in  stalwart  frame,  commanding  manner,  and 
Ki’Uvtvj  d:  '"on 
KcUcnii  d  Son 
Petunias,  new  Double=flowered.  (See  page  217.) 
keen  enthusiasm — Air.  William  R.  Smith,  the  director  of  the 
AVashington  Botanical  Garden.  Strangely  enough,  Air.  Smith 
was  a  friend  of  Mr.  Saunders  when  the  latter  was  an  apprentice 
and  the  former  a  journevman  in  neighbouring  places  in  Scotland. 
In  h  is  early  days  Air.  Smith  knew  St.  Andrews  well,  and  came 
under  its  academic  spell  so  far  as  to  seek  private  tuition  in  the 
evenings  from  a  Fniversity  student.  It  is  a  coincidence  that 
at  the  present  time  we  have  in  our  evening  class  of  elementary 
botany,  held  in  the  Aladras  College,  journeymen  from  the  same 
gardens  as  Air.  Smith  was  employed  in  fifty  years  ago.  The 
Botanical  Garden  is  in  close  proximity  to  the  Capitol,  and  is  a 
great  public  re.sort.  The  collection  of  outdoor  shrubs  is  specially 
noteworthy. 
In  AAhishington  u  e  had  the  pleasure  of  .spending  pleasant  hours 
in  the  company  of  Scotsmen  representing  the  younger  genera¬ 
tion.  It  is  very  gratifying  to  tell  that  they  are  successfully 
emulating  the  older  men  and  unholding  the  tradition.s  of  the 
professional  training  received  in  the  land  of  their  birth. 
In  course  of  time  we  reached  the  Pacific,  and  before  long 
formed  the  acuuaint anco  of  “britlier  Scots”  in  San  Fransisco. 
One  of  our  earliest  visits  was  made  to  Air.  John  AIcLaren,  the 
superintendent  of  the  Golden  Gate  Park.  This  famous  public 
park  stretches  from  the  confines  of  the  city  to  the  seashore,  a 
distance  of  over  four  miles.  AAdiat  a  contrast  is  found  when  ono 
ascends  the  higher  parts  of  the  grounds  and  looks  to  right  or 
left  over  the  adjacmit  country.  The  territory  there  is  in  great 
part  a  wilderness  of  sand,  shifting  by  the  gales,  and  incapable 
of  supporting  vegihalion.  Tlu'  site  of  tin'  Park  was  no  better 
originally,  and  the  greatest  difficulty  was  experienced  in  binding 
the  sand  and  rendering  it  a  basis  for  the  growth  of  ornamental 
plants.  Air.  AIcLaren  remembered  well  the  splendid  sand-bind¬ 
ing  (jualities  of  several  plants  on  his  native  coast  of  Ayrshire. 
He  had  a  shipload,  chieflv  of  Alaram  (Psamma  aronaria),  brought 
and  planted  on  the  foreshore. 
A  transfoiiiiation  ot  a  marvellous  kind  has  resulted  from  the 
experiment,  for  this  plant  is  spreading  with  great  rapidity,  not 
only  keeping  the  waves  of  the  .so-called  Pacific  from  encroaching 
on  the  shore,  but  is  gaining  ground  .seawards  in  a  very  marked 
Avay.  After  the  sand  has  gathered  above  the  Icvt'l  of  the  beach, 
and  is  no  longer  liable  to  be  washed  away,  it  is  planted  with 
various  conifers.  Eucalypti,  Acacias,  and  low-growing  plants  such 
as  Alesembrvanthemums.  In  time  a  top-dressiiig  of  earth  is 
given,  and  the  finer  grasses  are  e.stablished.  The  best  grass  for 
the  lawns  is  the  Kentucky  Blue  Grass  (Poa  pratensis). 
Air.  AIcLaren,  Avhen  Ave  visited  him,  had  fourteen  foremen 
Tufted  Pansy.  (See  page  212.) 
