the time of this visit, went back to the spot and, according to his cousin Humphrey Marshall in his Arbustum Americanum, 1785, " had the pleasing prospect of beholding it in its native soil, possessed with all its floral charms; and bearing ripe seeds at the same time; some of which he collected and brought home, and raised several plants therefrom, which in four years' time flowered. William Bartram has chosen to honor it with the name of that patron of sciences, and truly great and distinguished character, Dr. Benjamin Franklin. The trivial name is added from the river, where alone it has been observed to grow naturally." William Bartram testifies to its rarity in nature thus: " We (he and his father) never saw it grow in any other place, nor have I ever seen it growing wild in all my travels, from Pennsylvania to Point Coupfi, on the banks of the Mississippi, which must be allowed a very singular and unaccountable circumstance." In I79O a nephew of Humphrey Marshall found the tree still growing wild at the original spot. Though careful and repeated search has been made by competent persons no one has found it growing wild since I79O. There is reason to believe that at least part of the Georgia colony of Franklin trees was shipped to England and a fire may have finished the destruction. That the species persists at all is due to the survival of one specimen that Bartram transplanted to an acid part of his famous garden in Philadelphia. Nurserymen obtained plants but few succeeded until it was found that the tree does best in acid soil. Dr. F. V. Coville, who made this discovery, now has thriving trees in the nursery in Whitesbog, N.J.
The tree is nearly sterile to its own pollen. " There are several specimens in old Philadelphia gardens, all apparently derived from the Bartram tree. One or two nurseries near New York City have supplied plants to estates in that vicinity, but they obtained their stock in the first place from Thomas Meehan and Sons, who utilized Bartram's garden as their original source of cuttings. The single tree at Chevy Chase Circle, Washington, D. C., also came from Meehan's. The hope may be expressed, however, that some day a descendant from another ancestor will be discovered, and the cross-pollination and production of seedlings in quantity may then become possible, representing the final step in the permanent preservation of this interesting plant." G. F. S.