The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1904-05-03
Rec ROM
HOLLYWOOD
One Of the Finest Specimens ~
Il Botanical Garden Came From
Our Cemetery.
MR.. SMITH AND HIS PETS
The scotcl,man, a Great Ad-
t11irer Of Burns, Talks about
His Trees and Flowers.
1rror, our Regular corrcspondcnt)

From our Regular Correspondence
WASHINGTON, y. c., May nc
brirht sun to-day and the balny breezes
4 from the pine hills over In Virginia mace
~ idea, MAY day, when there is llttln
-, ~ III. mind of n man born In the
4 country for anything save thoughts OF
40 fields and flowers. and of the river,
,vbero tho fish are running anu eager
( fnr the baited hook. But as there Is.
small chance OF the newspaper nun
quitting work when he is ready OF leeis
4. like it, | did not HE away 10 Ius sly,
sc.nesg hut spcnt an hour down IN me
4 1,n.anIcol Gardens, the realm Of MI
NJ I, smith. the superintendent who Qas
CO, long wears ruled his kingdom with u
sway lndisputed and thoroughly APP
proved ,,,,,,,,r, {n,,
tho first glimpse one mas Oh thc s'us
little office he occupies IN the tlliN resi-
donce in the rear of the conscrValorles
shnws that the occupant is Scotchmail.
:. ,rhrcn plctures of Robert Burns TOOK
don.n from the walls in tho vcst1bule'
ana there are thirty more hanging III lnci
nnice or library Nearly every article III
In crowded room Is 4 Burns relic or
something in some way directly or re
motcly connected with the Scottish bara.
Mr.. Smith has spent many years COT
lecting the duplicates Of the Volumes
witch composed lsurnss library, and he
now has a tall book case in the office
p nearly every volume which Burns owned
when he died. or course. the books are
duplicates only, hut they are OIL me
same editions rs those which Burns
bought and read. and have been Sc
cured only after years of patient lanor'
I ~ cha fr,tn "a
the ROOM and only this morning MI
( smith received from gentleman IN
MARYLAND a large leather bound edit
r ton Of Osslan, printed in 1T62, with the
name of n professor OF history in Edin-
burg University on the fly-leaf.
He TALKS OF BURNS.
spent an hour listening to Mr. smith
talk Of Burns and of many OIL inc Sret'
men of this country whom he has known
in the course of the half century he has
3 been connected with the government, and
then we went out into tho gardens, !
am not going to describe those gardens.
TOO many writer's have attempted to pic
ture them, and the plants and trees IN
them representative of the flora OF inc
world. II was especially Interested N
some of tho splendid trees perfect
giants, which look as IL they might have
6Nithstood the storms of a century, bu
the greater mum Der OF them were planted
,'by Smith himself ea
That tree came from Hollywood. II
Richmond," he said pointing to a fin
E Wahoo tree. or winged elm, not far from
the entrance to his homo, ~ gentlemti
whose name | have forgotten, but wht
was the man who fired the first sbo
on Fort Sumter, was with mo when
got the shrub. which | brought to Wash
ington and planted over there. | can
not recall the name of tho man to whyn
,,hnlN .,.,l.
on calcareous manures. planted the
tree two or three years before the war
between the states"
The seed of which that tree Is the
product was brought to this country by
tho Japanese who came to American to
purchase the Confederate vessel Stone
wall Jackson captured by the United
eating p beautiful deciduous tree. some
what resembling a cork elm, and just
beginning to put forth its leaves.
THAT evergreen up there is from seed
given me by Mrs. jefferson Davis while
her husband was either in the United
States Senate or wds Secretary of War
Mrs. Davis and !. Hyself were grea,
friends. and she. .'isS I'd to@visit the gar.
dens every few days My recollection Of
Mr.. Davis is that he was a man of great
intellect and deep learning, and of
naughty bearing,
do YOU see that oak down yonder
by the gate?" asked Mr.. Smith. point
Ing TO a splendid tree. The acorn from
which that tree sprung was brought to
me from Kentucky by John j. Crltten-
den. United States senator, attorney-gen-
eral under two administrations, and one
OF the ablest men this country has pros
duced.'
EACH HAS a HISTORY
And so on through the list. Nearly
which entities ii to Il high place In ar
boreal aristocracy and practically every
one of them has been grown by Mr.,
Smith himself That he should love his
flowers Is not a matter for wondcr;S he
;dores his trees.
Mr.. Smith Is greatly interested In the
growth Of tuberoses in North Carolina.
Millions of dollars 90 out of this coun-
try every year for the bulbs of these and
other plants, and he believes that the
4 government should be upheld In its policy
10 encourage the people of the United
States 10 grow them and keep the money
az home He says that the country
round about Norfolk IS ADAPTED TO the
growth Of narcissus and tulip bulbs, and
he Is very DESTROYS that the people under
take their culture HeEsavs they would
find II profitable IN tho extreme North
Carolina. says Mr.. Smith, Is richer in
flora than any other State of the Union.
v that is, in The number Of species found
in her fields and forests There are
twcnty-oigbt varieties Of tho oak, and it
is said that they are all found in North
Carolina.