Evening star., 1926-05-27
ARB0RETUM ACTION.
! WIDELY FAVORED.
Nature Lovers Foresee Pro-
posed Feature as Never
Ending Delight.
BY BESSIE WILMARTH GAIN.
Omitted States Department of Agriculture.

BY BESSIE WlLMARIH UAf1N,
United States Department of Agriculture.
It is true; Americans are real ma
ture lovers. From all parts OF the
United States petitions have poured
into congressional mail bags and
buzzed over telegraph wires, urging
the establishment of a national ar
boretunr near Washington, where V1s
itors to the Capital City might fol
low the experimental work OF GOV
ernment scientists upon plants living
in their natural environment.
On May 10 the United States Senate
passed a bill authorizing the Secretary
Of Agriculture to establish and main
tain a national arboretum for pur
poses of research and education con
cerning tree and plant life. When es
tablished this national arboretum Will
contain a permanent. living collection
of trees and other outdoor plants
growing within two miles or the
Capitol.
The land proposed for the purpose
lies north and east of the city. along
the drained marshes of the Anacostla
River and on the wooded areas OF
Mount Hamilton and Hickey Hiil'
sites that are suitable to wide ranges
of Ella mt and bird life. and yet ac'
CeSGSOlG Tor nature loNclS
Pecple loved nature when they
came to America, many years ago
and their tastes have not changed.
As an illustration. there are special
occa sions during the year when the
Department of Agriculture opens Its
governmental greenhouses TO visitors.
that they may view the collections OF
cav chrysanthemums, gorgeous anna
ryllises. Easter lilies or whatever the
season may bring. At such times
rilsrims from far and near throng
the greenhouse corridors from morn
ing until night, eager to gaze ana
perhaps to gain mental pictures such
as Longfellow suggested in his verses
to The Daffodils."
! sazed and gazed. hut little thought
What wealth to me the show mad hrousht'
For Oft. when on my couch nc
In vacant. or in penstvr mood.
They fash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude.
II would be interesting could t.
plants display their histories as Well
as their beauty, for there are YARDS
of romance wrapped about each OF
them. In one of the houses, for IN
stance. there stands a row of un'
sophisticated baby box with an impos-
ing name. "Buxus sempervirens SUI
fruticosa.' These little plants are OF
variety of box often used in the
old formal gardens of Europe, and
now considered most rare. They were
slipped" from an ancient hedge at
Rose Hill. an old estate at Port To-
bacco. Md. settled in 1864. The par
ent plants were brought over from
Engla nd in 1853. and with all of their
age. and their gnarled roots buried
in historic soil, their LEAKAGE is yet
fresh and green: their ma sses of pro-
tective branches hide from the world
the relic of a once elegant mansion
where Gen. Washington frequently
visited with DIR. Brown. the country's
first physician general; where DR.
Hosack visited in 1870 and, from the
10 acres of terraced gardens, obtained
the idea of a public arboretum to be
used by doctors and students OF
medicine.
1t is of interest to know that the
country's first public gardens, estab.
lished in 1901 on old Murray Hill,
miles from the then city of New York.
originated on the hanks of the Poto.
mac. not far from the site now chosen
for the great national arboretum.
This was old Elgin Garden. and its
history is hut one of the romances to
he learned from plants in the Govern
ment's greenhouses.
If you were strolling along Fifth
avenue today. watching the crowds of
busy New Workers, what would you
think if the large church at the corner
of Forty-eighth street suddenly should
disappear and in its place there would
be tall and stately greenhouse, loom.
ing up between two tiourishing hot
houses? What if the Fifth avenue
sidewalks suddenly became winding,
gravelly paths leading down from the
greenhouse through box hedges and
root. rhubarb. poppies, foXglove and
other old.time medicinal plants?
Suppose you could stand on the hill
side in front of the greenhouse Told
MURRAY Hid and gaze far over and
beyond the high stone wall stretching
for acres away? Looking east you
would see the waters of the East River
Clisteninc in the morning sun. and
turning to look past the wooded hlli
in the west You would see the broad
Hudson reaching toward the north.
Were 1t possible actually to see the
things which now are but memories.
what a veritahle Garden of Eden one
could trace in this portion of New
York's Fifth avenue. This was the
site of the Elgin Garden from 1901
until 1857, when the first of its land
was sold. Is city lots at Forty-eiGhth
street. for which the Dutch Reformed
Church paid $50,000.
An interesting paragraph in the
Medical Repository, volume /, page
292, reads as follows:
In the year 1901 DR.. Hosack. being pro-
1Infnf 1Inmna u coiesa. % purchased 30 acres Of land
near New York. for the establishment Of a
botanic garden. This situation is on the
Middle Road between the Bloomingdale and
the City Hail is about three miles and half
:. The East and North Rivers are piail,
in sight . The grounds are also arranged
and planted agreeable to the most approved
style of ornamental gardening. The whole Is
shrubs judicially cheauered and mingled and
enclosed by well constructed stone wall.
But who was DR.. Hosack'?" you
may ask. Then, suppose we open
volume 5 of the bulletin of the New
York Botanical Garden and read a
section of page 324, as follows:
His TDavid Hosack'sl father. Alexander
Hosack. was born at Elgin (for which the
garden was namel. Scotland u 1850. IN In
f158 he came with Genera jeffrey Amherst
ae an artillery officer TO the siege and cap.
New York. where he married Jane daughte.
of Francis Arden. q prominent New forE
merchant David Hosack was their oldest
son. born August 81. 1852. He was for two .,,
completed his college course in 17so al
Princeton.
During 1890 DR.. Hosack lived in
Alexandria, Va. which place he be-
lieved was to become the capital OF