Mount Vernon and its associations, historical, biographical and pictorial . almost hopeless decay. The massive brick walls around bothgardens remain in perfect preservation. On the north side of the flower-garden Washington erectedquite an extensive conservatory for plants, into whicli he col-lected many rare exotics. Some of them were presented toliim as testimonials of esteem, and others were purchased atthe garden of John Bartram, near Philadelphia. Bartramwas a member of the Society of Friends, and an eminentbotanist. He had died during the Revolution, leaving hisbusiness in the able hands
Mount Vernon and its associations, historical, biographical and pictorial . almost hopeless decay. The massive brick walls around bothgardens remain in perfect preservation. On the north side of the flower-garden Washington erectedquite an extensive conservatory for plants, into whicli he col-lected many rare exotics. Some of them were presented toliim as testimonials of esteem, and others were purchased atthe garden of John Bartram, near Philadelphia. Bartramwas a member of the Society of Friends, and an eminentbotanist. He had died during the Revolution, leaving hisbusiness in the able hands of his son William, who, in 1791,published a most interesting account of his botanical explora-tions throuo;h the Southern states of our Union. 144 OUNT VERNON A few tropical plants found tlieir way to the Potomac oc-casionally, upon vessels from the West Indies. Among thelatter, on one occasion, were some line lemon-trees of large. CtNTURV PLANT AND LEMON-TKEE. growth, and from them Washington selected two or were propagated from these by cuttings, until, at thetime of his death, they had become qiiite a grove in one endof the conservatory. Only one of these now remains. It wasstanding in the flower-garden when I was there in 1S58, bythe side of a fine century-plant, which was sent to Washingtonby a gentleman at Porto Pico, in 1798. The tree is aboutfifteen feet in height; and, though bearing fruit in abundance,shows signs of decay. At the junction of two of the principal avenues in the AND ITS ASSOCIATIONS. 145
Size: 1636px × 1528px
Photo credit: © The Reading Room / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookauthorlossingb, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1850, bookyear1859
