Andrew Gentle

Andrew Gentle (fl. 1800-1841), a British-born seedsman and gardener, managed the Elgin Botanic Garden in New York City and operated a commercial business trading in seeds and plants.

History

By his own account, Andrew Gentle was "brought up to horticultural work, in all its departments." He was probably related to the Gentle family of Peebles, Scotland, proprietors of a multi-generational commercial practice as nursery- and seedsmen. For six years he had responsibility for managing "two very extensive establishments" in Britain before immigrating to the United States. There, as he recorded in his book Every Man His Own Gardener (1841), he "commenced operations for Dr. Hosack, in New-York, by laying out his grounds" in 1805. By "grounds," Gentle presumably meant the twenty-acre property on which Hosack, in his capacity as professor of botany and materia medica at Columbia College, was developing a botanic garden as a teaching aid. Soon after purchasing the property in 1801, Hosack had begun "to collect and cultivate the native plants of this country, especially such as possess medicinal properties, or are otherwise useful." He later reported having "in cultivation at the commencement of 1805, nearly fifteen hundred American plants, besides a considerable number of rare and valuable exotics." More progress had been made by 1806: "the greater part of ...[the twenty acres] is now in cultivation," Hosack reported in that year, and "a Conservatory, for the more hardy green-house plants, has been built; in addition to which, two Hot-Houses are now erecting for the preservation of those plants which require a greater degree of heat." Despite so much progress on other fronts, the grounds themselves had yet to be laid out, according to Hosack, who promised readers of his Catalogue of Plants Contained in the Botanic Garden at Elgin (1806): "The grounds will be arranged in a manner the best adapted to the different kinds of plants, and the whole enclosed by a belt of forest trees and shrubs, native and exotic.”

It is unclear whether Andrew Gentle contributed to the design of the Elgin Botanical Garden, or if "laying out [the] grounds" referred only to implementing an existing plan. In either case, the price of his work figured among a number of costs higher that exceeded Hosack's expectations. In 1805 and again in 1806, Hosack appealed to the New York legislature for financial support, “The expenses necessary to effect these improvements, especially in the cultivation and arrangement of the grounds, and in erecting the buildings, being greater than what I had anticipated." Gentle attempted to raise funds by operating a commercial market at the garden in addition to maintaining botanical specimens for scientific study. In 1807 he published an advertisement clarifying that the Elgin Garden was not only intended for the edification of medical students, but could also provide citizens with "the best vegetables for the table," along with "medicinal Herbs and Plants, and a large assortment of green and Hot House Plants." He had apparently left the garden by 1809, when Frederick Pursh began a brief stint as gardener at Elgin, succeeded by Michael Dennison less than two years later. When financial necessity compelled Hosack to offer the botanic garden for sale to the college of Physicians in 2011, "Andrew Gentle, Botanist and Seedsman" was among the professionals called upon to assign a monetary value. Gentle's estimate of $14,380.59 for the "indigenous and exotic plants, tools &c." was over $1,700 higher than the estimate provided by Pursh and the nurserymen John Hastings and John Brown not only for the plants and tools, but also the green house, hot houses, and grounds. Hosack also listed Gentle among "several gentlemen in this country, distinguished for their taste and talents in this department of science [botany]"—among them, Samuel Latham Mitchill, Bernard M'Mahon, William Darlington, and William Prince—who were "among the contributors to this institution."

In 1815 Gentle and Michael Dennison were two of only four seedsmen listed in the New York Directory (along with 53 gardeners and one nurseryman), Gentle describing himself as "Florist and Seedsman." His specialized services were evidently in demand and in March 1817 the trustees of Columbia University leased the grounds to him on an annual basis in exchange for his maintenance of the greenhousess and grounds. In a report on the read before the New York-Historical Society on April 8, 1817, David Hosack noted the receipt of "a large collection of seeds from Monsieur Thouin, the Professor of Agriculture and Botany at the Jardin des Plantes, of Paris" and another shipment of European seeds "from our learned countryman, Mr. Jefferson, adding, "Those seeds have all been conveyed to the Botanic Garden, where, in the hands of the present curator, Mr. Andrew Gentle, they will doubtless be cultivated with great care and fidelity." Gentle's lease of the botanic garden was renewed for several years, and in advertisements that appeared in the New York Evening Post from April 1817 to October 1820, he offered seeds and plants for sale both at the Elgin Botanic Garden and at his shop in Water Street near the Fly Market. The function of Elgin as a botanical garden was undeniably in decline, however. In May, 1819, the greenhouse plants along with "ornamental trees" and shrubs were transferred to the New York Hospital. Gentle's lease of the grounds had ended by 1823 when they were rented to J. B. Driver for five years By 1825 Gentle had relocated his business from the Fly Market to Maiden Lane. The range of his activities went well beyond that of seedsman. For example, in the spring of 1829, Adriance Van Brunt hired him to graft cherry trees.

Describe book

Nevertheless, his affiliation with David Hosack's garden appears to have been a high point of his career. Years later, in Everyman His Own Gardener, Gentle would describe himself as "late curator of the Elgin Botanic Garden," as well as corresponding member of the London Horticultural Society and member of the Horticulturist Society New York.

17) In September, 1825, Dr. Hosack again applied for a lease, but the terms were not agreed on, and in April, 1826, the garden was let to David Barnett, a seedsman, for ten years, at $500 per annum, and taxes. Barnett paid no rent; but $118 was collected by a sale of his goods in 1827, and the lease was surrendered.By 1825 Gentle had moved his business from the Fly Market to Maiden Lane.

"The sum of fourteen thousand three hundred and eighty dollars and fifty-nine cents, is, I believe, to the best of my judgment, the value of your indigenous and exotic plants, tools, & c. at Elgin.”

In forming his collection of plants, order to achieve this result, "such gardeners as were practically acquainted with our indigenous productions, were employed to procure them," and he had also relied on "the distinguished liberality of several scientific gentlemen in this country."

7) Dr. Hosack's expenditures upon the garden, according to his "Statement' (p. 56), must have exceeded $100,000. Unable to sustain this burden, and disappointed in his appeals to the Legislature for support in 1805 and 1806, he was compelled in 1808 to offer the garden for sale. 11) After several years of trial, however, in consequence of the distance of the garden from the college, tis need of constant supervision and frequent repair, and the expense, the difficulty of finding a responsible and faithful tenant, the lack of state support and the subordinate importance of the garden in medical study, made the grant of the garden grounds to Columbia College in 1814 a welcome relief to the trustees of the College of Physicians and Surgeons, though Dr. Hosack was loath to part with it. Three times afterwards… he endeavored, without success, to renew his connection with the garden by obtaining a lease of it to societies with which he was associated; and in 1816 he petitioned the legislature, also without success, to bestow the garden upon the college of Physicians and Surgeons, giving to Columbia instead, its money value. 15) The garden “was not considered by the trustees an attractive or helpful gift.” They did not take formal possession until October 1816, two years and a half after the grant, when repairs for the winter being needed… 16) In May, 1819, the Committee on the Botanic Garden reported that: “Agreeably to the wish of the Trustees, the ’’green-house’’ plants belonging to the college were offered to and accepted by the Governors of the Hospital; and the Committee have given an order for the delivery of them and such ‘’ornamental trees’’ and shrubs as might be removed without injury to the place.”

1810: (“Botanist and Seedsman” of New York), The trustees’ memorial of 1818 states, that when they took possession of the garden “the whole establishment was in a state of dilapidation and decay.” They made some repairs, and in March, 1817, let the grounds to a Mr. Gentle for one year, apparently without rent, but upon condition that he keep the green houses and grounds in order. Renewals were continued for several years, a long lease being refused on account of “the prospects of an advantageous exchange, if the property were keep [sic] unencumbered.” In the summer of 1819, Dr. Hosack, in behalf of the Agricultural Society applied for a lease for a term of years, free from rent, for “market gardening”; but the trustees declined…. 16) In May, 1819, the Committee on the Botanic Garden reported that: “Agreeably to the wish of the Trustees, the ’’green-house’’ plants belonging to the college were offered to and accepted by the Governors of the Hospital; and the Committee have given an order for the delivery of them and such ‘’ornamental trees’’ and shrubs as might be removed without injury to the place.” In 1823 the grounds were rented to J. B. Driver for five years at $125 per year and taxes, the tenant agreeing “to keep the grounds and buildings in order, and not to lop, cut or remove any trees or shrubbery, or pasture other than his own cattle”; and the college reserved the right to cancel the [17] lease in case of sale; and also the right to remove trees and shrubbery, and ‘’glass’’ and ‘’frames’’ from the front building; and the tenant was to preserve them till removed.”

David Hosack,’’Hortus Elginensis, or, A Catalogue of Plants, Indigenous and Exotic, Cultivated in the Elgin Botanic Garden, in the Vicinity of the City of New-York : Established in 1801’’ (New-York : Printed by T. & J. Swords, 1811), 2nd edition enlarged, viii: “Nor must I be unmindful of the obligations I am under to several gentlemen in this country, distinguished for their taste and talents in this department of science..... and Mr. Andrew Gentle, seedsman, of this city; are also among the contributors to this institution."

1816 The view of the Elgin Botanic Garden, reproduced as Pi. 95-b, — Vol. VI, was made about this time by Hugh Reinagle, scenic artist of the Park Theatre. The original drawing, now in the author's collection, has the following inscription on the back in the hand- writing of Dr. Hosack: "Botanic Garden in the vicinity of New York for Mr. Loudon from Dr. Hosack."

Early New York Seedsmen and Nurserymen, Journal of the New York Botanical Garden : v. 1, no. 1-v. 51, no. 612 (November 1942) next lead is the New York Directory of 1815. I have carefully scanned all 466 pages and 17,400 names of this stout little volume and find that at the time New York had 53 gardeners ( two of them women, by the way, widows), one nurseryman—- James Steadman, at Livingston and Pitt Streets— and four seedsmen. They were: Michael Dennison, 105 Maiden Lane; A. Gentle, " Florist and Seedsman," 124 The Fly Market;….. Another who piques my curiosity is Andrew Gentle, seedsman. In 1815 he was located in The Fly Market; ten years later, his business evidently prospering, he moved to Maiden Lane.

American (The) Medical and Philosophical Register. [Edited by David Hosack, and others.] New York, 1S10-1814. 4 vols. 8°. The first number appeared in July, 1810. Matter of particular New York City interest is mainly in the second volume, viz. — Sketch of the Elgin Botanic Garden, with an engraving by Leney; sketch of the origin and progress of the medical schools of New York and Phila- delphia, with an engraved view of the New York Hospital; historical account and letters relating to steamboats, with an engraving of a steamboat; Eddy's circular map of New York, and observations on the weather and health of the city.

Early New York Seedsmen and Nurserymen, Journal of the New York Botanical Garden : v. 1, no. 1-v. 51, no. 612 (November 1942) next lead is the New York Directory of 1815. I have carefully scanned all 466 pages and 17,400 names of this stout little volume and find that at the time New York had 53 gardeners ( two of them women, by the way, widows), one nurseryman—- James Steadman, at Livingston and Pitt Streets— and four seedsmen. They were: Michael Dennison, 105 Maiden Lane; A. Gentle, " Florist and Seedsman," 124 The Fly Market;….. Another who piques my curiosity is Andrew Gentle, seedsman. In 1815 he was located in The Fly Market; ten years later, his business evidently prospering, he moved to Maiden Lane.

L. Simond, published in the Medical Repository in 1810, vol. 13, p. 217.* Another by Reinagle, in the Catalogue Elginensis of 181 1, and in the Amer. Med. and Phil. Register, vol. 2, p. I, 1814, is perhaps less attractive, but gives a wider view of the grounds

List of Figures, Huntington Library Quarterly,Vol. 59, No. 2/3 (1996), pp. 177-180 Published by: University of California Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable817665

Hugh Reinagle, c. 1812

Met: http://metmuseum.org/exhibitions/view?exhibitionId=%7B7520F254-F45A-4A80-AAF1-470DAF54FE81%7D&oid=383388

late curator of the Elgin Botanic Garden, New York, elected a

--Author

Texts

• Gentle, Andrew, June 4, 1807, Notice concerning the Elgin Botanic Garden, published in the New York Commercial Advertiser (Stokes 1926: 5: 1460-61)

“As it was the original design in forming this establishment to render it not only useful as a source of instruction to the students of medicine but beneficial to the public by the cultivation of those plants useful in diseases, by the introduction of foreign grasses, and by the cultivation of the best vegetables for the table; our citizens are now informed that they can be supplied with medicinal Herbs and Plants, and a large assortment of green and Hot House Plants etc.”

• Gentle, Andrew, January 22, 1810, Valuation of plants in the Elgin Botanic Garden (Hosack 1811: 53-54)

"The sum of fourteen thousand three hundred and eighty dollars and fifty-nine cents, is, I believe, to the best of my judgment, the value of your indigenous and exotic plants, tools, & c. at Elgin.”

• Hosack, David, April 8, 1817, Report read at a meeting of the Historical Society, New York (May 1817: 47)

"The Committee acknowledge with great pleasure, the reception of a large collection of seeds from Monsieur Thouin, the Professor of Agriculture and Botany at the Jardin des Plantes, of Paris, and another from our learned countryman, Mr. Jefferson, as lately received by him from his European correspondents. Those seeds have all been conveyed to the Botanic Garden, where, in the hands of the present curator, Mr. Andrew Gentle, they will doubtless be cultivated with great care and fidelity."

• Gentle, Andrew, October 1817, Advertisement in the New York Evening Post (October 2, 1817: 3 and October 11, 1817: 4)

"BOTANIC GARDEN SEEDS AND PLANTS. For sale, by the subscriber, SEEDS, the growth of this year. Those wanting seeds to send to Europe will do well to apply, as they can be supplied with scarce and new species, on the most suitable terms. Also, a handsome collection of ornamental trees, plants in pots, and flowers, can be had daily during the ensuing winter. Apply to ANDREW GENTLE, at the Botanic Garden."

• Gentle, Andrew, September 25, 1820, Advertisement in the New York Evening Post (September 25, 1820: 4)

"SEEDS. THE GROWTH OF 1820. ANDREW GENTLE, from the Botanic Garden, informs his former customers and the public, that he has recommenced the seed business at the store, 155 Water-st., near the Fly Market, where Gardeners and Agriculturalists may depend on getting seeds genuine.

"...A fine assortment of Bulbous Roots, Tulips, Hyacinths, &c. Double Camellias and other ornamental Plants. All kinds of implements for the garden, on the shortest notice, on the most reasonable terms."

• Gentle, Andrew, October 28, 1820, Advertisement in the New York Evening Post (October 17, 1820: 4)

"Mr ANDREW GENTLE (at the Botanic Garden) has for sale there, and at his Store, No. 155 Water-st. New-York, a general assortment of Garden and Agricultural seeds, the growth of the present year. Fruit trees (true of their kinds.) Ornamental shrubs, plants, &c. Fine hyacinths, fit for glasses; Tulips, and other bulbous roots, for the open ground; the present time is the best for planting them. Seeds put up for foreign orders with the greatest care.... Green-house plants received for the winter, at very moderate charge, and will have the same attention as his own. Flower-pots and garden tools....

• Gentle, Andrew, 1841, Every Man His Own Gardener(1841: iii-vii, 34, 68, 73, 76, 80, 82-83, 89-91, 93)

"I deem it necessary…to acquaint the reader of the following Plain Treatise on Horticulture, with my qualifications for making considerable alterations in the mode of Gardening….

“I was brought up to horticultural work, in all its departments, and was entrusted with the management of two very extensive establishments in the Old Country for six years, before I embarked for this ‘land of the free.’ In the year 1805, I commenced operations for Dr. Hosack, in New-York, by laying out his grounds. On making inquiries of those who followed the business, relative to the usual time of putting some crops in the ground, the information I obtained, was, for a time, my guide. I was, however, firmly satisfied, that the ‘appointed times,’ observed by my fellow-labourers, were based on uncertainty, and of course induced repeated failure and great disappointment…. I perused several eminent authors on Gardening, and became thoroughly convinced that a most material deviation from their instructions must be adopted by the practical cultivator in this country, in order to crown his labours with success.

“Upwards of twenty years ago, I was strenuously advised to publish a work on useful Gardening. My answer was that I should be laughed at— not having had an opportunity of fully testing the effect of climate on vegetable life. I have since visited the Southern States, which, together with a long residence in the State of New-York, enable me, I presume, to form pretty correct data for the profitable pursuit of Kitchen Gardening, having kept general memorandums for the whole of the above-mentioned period.…

“It is more owing to the unskillfulness of the gardener, than to the "husbanding" of the seed seller, that so many crops fail.

“If the directions which I have given, with respect to sowing of seeds, and the time they will grow, are followed with tolerable exactness, they will be found applicable to the various States of the Union…. Seeds preserved here may be safely kept much longer than those imported from Europe….

“That the study of Horticulture, too much neglected hitherto, may confer all the advantages which it is capable of bestowing; that it may make the waste places fruitful, and the wilderness to blossom as a rose, is the height of the Author’s ambition, as well as his most devout prayer.

"CHIVES. Allium schoenoprasum….

"Plant the roots for edging to a walk or border, two inches deep, and the same distance apart, in the form you wish them to be.

"SORREL FRENCH. Rumex acetosa....

"You may have it in a bed any size, the rows being a foot apart, or for edging along the side of a walk....

"HYSSOP. Hyssopus officinalis…

"When it comes up, set it out in any form you wish; the usual way is to make an edging for the inner side of a border. Set the plants a few inches part; if for a bed, a foot in the rows.

"THYME. Thumus vulgaris….

"Plant sips in rows four inches apart, for edging. It does well for a walk side, or you may make a bed the same distance, the rows a foot apart.

"STRAWBERRY. Fragaria….

"In a small or family garden they make (81) good edging along the sides of squares; in a kitchen garden plant in rows, two plants nearly together, about eighteen inches apart….

"APPLE. Pyrus malus….

"For a small garden they should be set out one foot by three in the rows…. They will, in three or four years, be large enough to set out for orchard purposes….In setting out for an orchard, from thirty to thirty-six feet is a good distance.

"On the Construction of a Green-House and its Size.

"It can be heated with one fire-place, if it is forty feet long, sixteen wide, and the same in height; windows upright, and to commence two feet from the bottom, and go within three feet of the top; all hanging with weights to give air when wanted; there should be two or three in each end of the house also.

"The principal thing is the fire place; that is to be in the rear, and to come into the house from the north-west corner is rather the best; the size in the inside to be two feet in the clear in the length, eighteen inches wide, the grate to be one foot wide, and fifteen inches long; the bars to be one inch and a half thick by one inch broad, and to lay not more than one-quarter of an inch apart, the ends to fit close together, and half in, to lay on a bar of iron, with a fall of nine inches for the ashes; the door frame for two doors, the lower one to have two holes, with valves to shut or not as may be; the bottom of the entrance into the flue to be eighteen inches above the fire-place; an arch turned over rather higher behind than before; the flues all round to be four bricks on edge, a foot wide outside, and tiles a foot wide to cover over the top, an inch and a quarter thick; all soft brick, and laid in clay mortar; it will look better and throw more heat at less expence of fire, to have the bricks laid pigeon-hole fashion. The green-house to face the mid-day sun, or a little earlier. A conservatory may range south and north with glass roof, sides and ends, within two feet of the ground, and heated in the same way. The glass for the slope of the roof had better be about six inches wide, as it is bought cheaper, and not so liable to break. The slope may be what you please, only keep as near the directions as possible for the fire-place. Either of the above directed houses should be near the house, for convenience, or amusement for the winter. The stage in the green-house may be put up any form wished, provided it has a regular slope, as the plants always look best. The flues round the house with a shelf on it, will hold a great many plants, and they will be partly out of sight. Steam pipes will hold nothing, being round, and they cost more money, and when they get out of order, you have to get an engineer to put all right again, and if that should happen in the middle of winter, the consequences may be feared….

“Grape vines can be trained up the inside of a conservatory to advantage, by making the ground good where they are planted, and having an aperture through the lower part where they grow. You may indulge your taste to a considerable extent in laying out the ground adjacent to the house, if you wish; it will have a pretty effect for various flowers, shrubs, &c.

“It is customary to cause steam in the house in the evening, when the fire is kept up in cold weather, by occasionally pouring water along on the flue; it will make the plants have a fine appearnace in the morning.

"On the Choice of a Situation for a Garden.

"I would prefer a kitchen garden near the house, but not fully in sight, partly surrounded with trees, ornamental as well as fruit, or grape vines, sloping a little to the south, and facing the sun at 11 o’clock, with a variety of soils, all of good depth, and free from stones or gravel, or rain water standing on it. It may be either square or oblong, but is most convenient to work when the sides are straight, with a fence of moderate height. In laying out, I would prefer a border all round the width of the border, the main cross walks four feet wide, to plant currants, gooseberry, and raspberry bushes, four feet apart, or strawberry plants near the farmyard, and convenient for water.

"For a market garden the same sort of ground, with a good fence all round…."

Images

Inscribed

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  William Satchwell Leney after Louis Simond, View of the botanic garden at Elgin in the vicinity of the City of New York, ca. 1810.

• 

  John Trumbull, Dr. Hosack's Green houses, June 1806.

• 

  William Satchwell Leney after Hugh Reinagle, View of the Botanic Garden of the State of New York, 1828.

Associated

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  Hugh Reinagle, "Elgin Garden on Fifth Avenue," 1825.

Attributed

• 

  Anonymous, Elgin Garden, ca. 1810.