THE

BOSTON REVIEW,

FOR

MAY, 1811.

Librum tuum legi, et quam diligentissime potui annotavi quae commutanda, quae eximenda arbitrarer. Nam ego dicere verum assuevi. Neque ulli patientius reprehenduntur, quam qui maxime laudar merentur.

Plin.

ARTICLE 26.

1811.

A Statement of Facts relative to the establishment and progress of the Elgin Botanick Garden, and the subsequent disposal of the same to the state of New York. By David Hosack, M. D. Professor of Botany and Materia Medica in Columbia College. New York; Van Winkle. Hortus Elginensis; or a Catalogue of Plants indigenous and exotick, cultivated in the Elgin Botanick Garden in the vicinity of New York; by the same. Second edition enlarged. J. & T. Swords.

THE branches of natural science cannot in general be pursu ed with advantage, except as they are connected with actual exemplification from specimens or experiments. The departments of natural history in particular are so intimately dependant on this kind of illustration, that they can neither be taught nor studied to any effect where facilities for the demonstration of their subjects are wanting. In botany this requisite is supplied from plates, from preserved specimens, and lastly from plants themselves in their natural state of growth and perfection. The collection of living specimens from a kingdom whose subjects are so numerous and so extensively diffused, is an undertaking of such magnitude and difficulty, that hitherto it has been accomplished in any considerable degree only by legislative patronage, or by a more than ordinary degree of individual enthusiasm and perseverance. In

the United States a number of botanick establishments both of a publick and private kind are at present supported in various degrees of amplitude and maturity. No one has yet attained that eminence which the extent of our country and the variety of its products seems to require, as a repository of its trea'sures; yet from several, promises of future importance are sufficient to justify the hopes of their founders.

The garden at Kingsess, four miles from Philadelphia, founded in 1727, by John Bartram, botanist to the king of Great Britain, is the oldest institution of note in the United States. This delightful spot, comprizing about eight acres of ground, is situated on a gradual declivity descending from the mansion house of the owner to the western bank of the Schuylkill. It is copiously stored with the indigenous productions of the country, judiciously and tastefully arranged. The length of time since its establishment has enabled the trees to attain their growth, an advantage not experienced by institutions of recent date. The garden is chiefly under the management of Mr. William Bartram, son of the founder, who, assisted by others of his family, continues at an advanced age to cultivate with his own hands the field of his father's industry. There is something peculiarly interesting in the appearance of this venerable man, solacing the feebleness of age by the same pursuits which have constituted the pastime of his youth, and the rational exercise of his manhood.

The green house and pleasure grounds of William Hamilton, Esq. near Philadelphia, merit notice among the botanick collections of the country. The assemblage of exoticks in the green and hot houses is stated to be the richest and most valuable on the continent. These buildings measure 140 feet in front, and contain, it is said,* upwards of five thousand species of plants. The elegance of surrounding objects, and the liberal hospitality of the owner has rendered a visit to the "Woodlands" a highly desirable object to the stranger.

The garden of the Botanick Society of South Carolina, established by private subscription and patronized by legisla– tive liberality, possesses local advantages much superiour to more northern institutions of the kind. Though at present it

*See Port Folio, Vol. II. New Series.

is not in a state of great advancement, yet it is not to be sup posed that an establishment of this kind will be suffered to languish in the midst of a climate whose temperature renders practicable and easy the cultivation of many vegetables, which bear the rigours of a northern winter only under the expensive protection of the green and hot house.

The botanick garden at Elgin, three miles from New York, is now among the most considerable of the United States. The establishment, progress and present condition of this garden constitute the subject of the two pamphlets before us..

From the fist of these it appears, that soon after the appointment of Dr. Hosack to the joint professorship of botany and materia medica in Columbia college, he made application in 1797 to the board of trustees of that institution for the endowment of the professorship with a certain annual salary sufficient to defray the expenses of a small garden, for the purpose of cultivating such plants as furnish medicines, or are otherwise necessary for medical instruction. But though a committee from the trustees reported in favour of the appropriation of the sum of three hundred pounds per annum for five years, yet from a deficiency in the funds of the college, the endowments could not take place.

In 1800 a memorial to the same purpose was presented to the legislature of New York; but the subject being postponed, Dr. Hosack resolved to devote his own private funds to the prosecution of an object, the utility of which appeared so obvious. He accordingly purchased a lot of ground, situated at Elgin, three and an half miles from the city of New York. This was cleared, enclosed with a well constructed stone wall, and put in order for the reception of plants, the collection of which was prosecuted with considerable industry. Finding these improvements to be attended with very considerable and increasing expense, more than prudence would justify on the part of an individual, Dr. Hosack was induced to repeat his ap plication for legislative aid, and finally to offer the whole establishment to the state for sale at a fair and equitable valuation. After many vexatious failures and delays, an act passed the legislature in March, 1810, directing the commissioners of the land office to treat with Dr. Hosack for the purchase of the garden and its appurtenances at a fair and equitable valuation.

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In consequence of this act, the sum of seventy four thousand, two hundred and sixty eight dollars and seventy five cents was offered and accepted, this sum being the appraisement by a committee appointed for the purpose, of the garden, its walls and appurtenances, exclusive of the plants, shrubs, and trees contained in it.

Dr. H. was induced to make this publication with a view to correct a number of prevalent errours on the subject, originating partly in ignorance and partly in misrepresentation.

The second pamphlet contains an account of the present condition of the Elgin botanick garden, and a catalogue of its મૈં plants. The ground of this establishment, comprizing twenty acres, is now enclosed with a durable stone wall seven feet in height; which is lined with a belt of shrubs and forest trees of different kinds. An extensive green house and two spacious hot houses, forming a front of 180 feet, are erected. The catalogue of plants comprizes about three thousand different species, among which are many rare and curious exoticks from various remote parts of the globe.

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Much praise is due to Dr. Hosack for the persevering attachment to science which has induced him to prosecute with so much zeal a pursuit which involved the partial sacrifice and more extensive hazard of his individual fortune. This gentleman ranks among his correspondents a number of naturalists of the first eminence in Europe and elsewhere, whose liberality has contributed not a little to the advancement of his institution. He announces an intention shortly to commence the publication of " American Botany, or a Flora of the United States," containing a description of the plants, their essential characters, &c. &c. to be illustrated with coloured engravings, after the manner of the English Botany of Dr. Smith. A work of this kind, if properly executed, in addition to the proposed works of the very accurate and indefatigable Dr. Barton, of Philadelphia, will place the natural history of this country on a footing not less respectable than that of many countries much longer known.

It is impossible to quit this interesting subject without adverting to the establishment in the vicinity of this metropolis,*

* For an account of the establishment for natural history in Cambridge, Massachusetts, see Anthology for 1808, page 595.

commenced under happy auspices, but progressing slowly for want of the fostering support which is indispensably necessary to every institution in its infant state. Few objects have greater claims on the munificence of the wealthy, than one which unites the elegance of art with the utility of science. From the remotest antiquity a garden or similar situation has been considered the most appropriate seat of refined and rational enjoyment. Witness the Eden of the sacred, and the Elysium of profane writers. In every age of the world a predilection for the pursuits, uses, and amusements of horticulture has prevailed; from the splendid, extravagance, which erected the hanging gardens of Babylon, to the laborious economy, which framed and furnished the floating gardens of Mexico. With regard to the study of botany, although the same mental improvement may not arise from a science exercising the memory chiefly, which is to be expected from more abstruse investigations; yet the very obvious utility of a knowledge of the productions of the soil, to agriculture, the arts, and to medicine, is too great not to command cultivation and patronage. The identification of a single species may be of incalculable consequence in preventing the effect of ignorance or imposture on the lives and health of society.

Patriotism and local attachment should direct the liberality of patrons of science here, toward an object, which alone can place the state of natural history in Massachusetts on a par with its standing in sister states. The severity of our climate renders necessary expenses, which are not incurred under a milder sun, yet this cannot operate as any objection to our botanical progress when it is recollected, that scarce any country has gone beyond Sweden in the successful cultivation of a knowledge of the earth's productions; and that the greatest naturalist the world ever saw, received his existence on the Confines of the Baltick.