Peter Collinson

Texts

• Collinson, Peter, October 6, 1721, in a letter to George Robins of Talbot County, Maryland (quoted in O'Neill and McLean 2008: 12)

“I can't forget our former familiarity aboard Ship & tho it too often happens that absence & Difference breed a Bane to frdship Yett those circumstances will never be able to Produce such an effect in Mee...Dear George. I wish thee Health and Prosperity & I will raise my Wishes Higher, a Happy Eternity. Forget not Mee & My Garden.”

• Collinson, Peter, c. 1730, in a letter to William Byrd II (Tinling, ed., 1977: 1:423)

“A good situation is a very essential point to be considered in the choice of a vineyard a gentle declivity to the south is esteemed the best, which more speedily carries off the water, which on a flat is apt to stay long, & is very prejudicial, a sandy gravelly dry soil is best. Juices produced from this, is stronger & better flavoured, than from a low moist situation.

"A good shelter is very necessary & should be raised on all sides but the south by raising plantations of trees of the quickest growth as hickory locust, &c. but on that side which is most exposed to the strongest winds the plantation must be made more formidable but let none be planted so near the vines as to drip upon them.”

• Collinson, Peter, July 22, 1732, in a letter to the Library Company of Philadelphia (2002: 9)

"I am a Stranger to most of you but not to your laudable Designe to erect a publick Library. I beg your acceptance of my Mite: Sr Isaac Newtowns Philosophy & Philip Millers Gardening Dictionary. It will be an Instance of great Candour too accept the Intention & Good Will of the Giver and not regard the meaness of the Gift."

• Collinson, Peter, after 1733, in his Commonplace Book (quoted in O'Neill and McLean 2008: 103)

“My Connection with our Colonies in the Course of Trade, & my Love for planting & Improvements putt mee Early on the Scheme of procuring Seeds, as well for my own planting as Others—but it was many years before I could do anything to any Purpose untill luckily, anno 1733 I was recommended to Bartram.”

• Collinson, Peter, January 24, 1734, in a letter to John Bartram (quoted in Armstrong 2004: 31)

"I wish att a proper season Thee would procure a strong box 2 feet square and about 15 or 18 inches deep but a foot Deep in Mould will be enough. Then collect half a dozen Laurels and half a Dozen shrub Honeysuckles [azaleas] and plant in this Box, but be sure to make the bottome of the Box full of large Holes and cover the Holes with Tiles or oyster shells to Lett the Water draine better off. Then Lett this box stand in a proper place in thy Garden for two or three years till the plants have taken good Root and made Good Shoots. But thee must be Care full to water it in Dry Weather."

• Collinson, Peter, January 20, 1735/36, in a letter to John Bartram (quoted in Armstrong 2004: 31)

"takeing the following Methode I have raised a great many pretty plants out of your Earth. I lay out a Bed 5 or 6 feet long, 3 foot Wide. Then I pare off the Earth and Inch or Two Deep, then I Loosen the bottome and Lay it very smooth again and thereon (if I may use the Term) I sow the Sand & Seed together as thin as I can. Then I sift some good Earth over it about half an Inch thick. This bed ought to be In Some place that It may not be Disturbed & kept very Clear from Weeds for several seeds come up not til the second year."

• Collinson, Peter, January 24, 1735, in a letter to John Bartram (quoted in Weisberg-Roberts 2011: 160)

"I am very sensible of the great pains and many tiresome steps to collect so many rare plants scattered at a distance. I shall not forget it; but in some measure to show my gratitude, though not in proportion of they trouble I have sent thee a small token: a calico gown for thy wife."

• Collinson, Peter, February 12, 1735/36, in a letter to John Bartram (quoted in Armstrong 2004: 33)

"I have got a Box of Chestnuts in sand & some Spanish nutts & some of our Kathrine peach stones. It is the last & a large peach that ripens with us in October. But will sooner with you. It is a hard sound well flavoured peach none better & Clings to the stone, 17 & as many apricot stones & in the Little Box that the Insects came in are some seeds. The China Aster is the Noblest & finest plant thee Ever saw of that Tribe. It was sent per the Jesuits from China to France & thence to us. It is an Annual. Sow it in a rich mould immediately & when it has half a Dozen Leaves transplant to the Borders. It make a glorious autumn flower. There is White and purple in the Seeds."

• Kalm, Peter, September 1748, describing Peter Collinson's garden at Peckham (quoted in Brett-James 1926: 30–31)

"June 10, in the afternoon, I went to Peckham, a pretty village which lies 3 miles from London in Surrey, where Mr. Peter Collinson has a beautiful little garden, full of all kinds of the rarest plants, especially American ones, which can endure the English climate and stand out the whole winter. However neat and small it is there is scarcely a garden where so many kinds of trees and plants, especially the rarest, are to be found. Peter Collinson uses knucklebones for his borders and he explained to me his method of sowing mistletoe and also experiments he had made with cranberries. He thinks it is best for a garden to have the morning sun so that it may help to dry up the vapours. Quadrilateral is the best shape and is the one which he has adopted, whereas the gardens of the Duke of Richmond are round. The sun is not so effective. He told me also of the use of meadowland in Middlesex, north of Hamptstead. The people do not use the plough but keep horses and hardy any cattle. The manure thus obtained is sent to London frequently. I saw a tree clipped to form the roof of a summer-house and also a chestnut cut so as to make a shelter over a bench."

• Collinson, Peter, October 5, 1757, in a letter to Cadwallader Colden (1923: 5: 190)

"I have in Mrs Alexanders Trunk Sent you the Herbals you wanted and putt in 2 or 3 of Erhetts Plants, for your Ingenious Daughter to take Sketches of the fine Turn of the Leaves &c. & Lin: Genera.

"I wish your fair Daug[hte]r was Near Wm Bartram he would much assist her at first Setting out. John['] Son a very Ingenious Ladd who without any Instructor has not only attained to the Drawing of Plants & Birds, but He paints them in their Natural Colours So Elegantly So Masterly that the best Judges Here think they come the Nearest to Mr Ehrets, of any they have Seen[.] it is a fine amusement for her[;] the More She practices the more She Will Improve, by another Ship, I will Send Some more prints but as they are Liable to be taken I Send a few at a Time."

• Collinson, Peter, 1760?, inscribed on the back of a letter from C. Polhill to Peter Collinson dated March 17, 1760 (quoted in Armstrong 2004: 24)

"I have for many years past to Improve or at Least embellish my Country at the request of many of the Nobility & Gentry—with no little Trouble & Some expense—procured annually Boxes of Pensilvania Seeds Having only my Labour for my Pains without the Least profit or advantage. . . .

"My Connection with our Colonies in the Course of Trade & my Love for planting & Improvement—putt mee Early on the Scheme of procuring Seeds as well for my own planting as others—but it was many years before I could do any Thing to any purpose until Luckily anno 1733 I was recommended to Bartram (in anno 1736 Seed sent of Pennsylvania) a Native of that Country who I Shall Direct to putt you up a Box of Seeds for next year."

• Collinson, Peter, June 11, 1762, in a letter to John Bartram (quoted in Fry 2011: 66)

"I forgot in my Last to tell thee my Discidious Mountain Magnolia I have raised from Seed about 20 years agon flowers for the First Time with Mee & I presume is the first of that species that ever flowerd in England."

• Collinson, Peter, February 29, 1768, in a letter to John Bartram (quoted in O'Neill and McLean 2008: 50)

“whilst snow covered the Garden without... out of my parlour I go into my Greenhouse 42 foot long which makes a pretty walk to smell the sweets of so many oderiferous plants, Winter without but Summer within.”