The Getting of the Plants

Monday, November 17th, 1823 – At Flushing and got part of the trees up. Could not get finished as Mr Prince has not all the plants which are ardently needed. Many times he expressed himself pleased with the Society and is to put up a collection of fruits, which will be an acquisition, especially as I have almost failed with Coxe.

So Prince is not quite making good on what Douglas expects, and Douglas is beginning to suspect that he never will.

From 18th to 22nd – Employed packing plants etc., Got part of the boxes on board.

Sunday November 23rd – Wrote to Joseph Sabine Esq., and finished putting up my dry plants. At church in the afternoon.

26th – Received the trees from Philadelphia and Burlington, got them from the wharf, ordered boxes for them, I now feel a little at ease.

Thursday 27th – Got remainder of trees etc. packed and taken down to the vessel, and box from Baltimore.

29th – Received boxes from Flushing and transmitted on board ship; packing and at Mr Hogg’s.

30th – Accompanied Mr Hogg to some of his friends in the country

Reading between the lines of his Journal, this is clearly a bit of an anxious time for Douglas. He will be judged by his employers on what he brings back and it's all coming together in the last few days. He needs to actually receive all the trees he has ordered from various sources, get them boxed up for the voyage home, get them to the wharf and supervise their loading. This will be hard work and require lots of coordination from him, overseeing people who probably don't attach the same importance to his trees as he does.

 

Meanwhile, with the other hand, he is doing the same with his more transportable dry material. It all feels a bit last-minute. He has another few days of packing and loading to get through, and one last confrontation with Mr Prince at Flushing. But he's nearly done.

Mr Coxe is still ill, and a slow journey north

Tuesday, November 4th & 5th, 1823 – In the morning went to Mr Dick’s [Janitor of the University] and got up and packed and sent to the wharf. Mr Dick has several species of Cactus from the Rocky Mountains but they are too small to bear a voyage across the Atlantic.

Left Philadelphia at 12 o’clock and reached Burlington at 4 in the afternoon [of the 4th Nov]. Went to William Coxe, Esq., whom I found still very ill – but considerably better since I saw him before…..[and yet, Douglas goes on to say..] he was not able to leave his room, indeed he was so ill before I left that to appearance he could not live long. [So I guess he must have deteriorated sharply while Douglas was there?] 

I obtained all that was in the house [of varieties of apple seeds], consisting of about eight or nine varieties and only two or three of each, with two bottles of cider seven years old – one made from Wine-sop, one from Virginian crab-apple: this is a present from Thos A. Knight and Jos Sabine Esqs., from Will. Coxe. I also got a few seeds of ornamental plants. I received from him and family all the attention they could give under the present circumstances. 

I had not time to call on Mr Smith, and as I saw all the trees sent off before going to Philadelphia, left Burlington at 2 o’clock in the afternoon [of the 5th Nov] by steamboat for Bordentown, and then by stage to South Amboy. The night was exceedingly dark and rainy; the coach broke down at 11 o’clock at night, and having to stop two hours in repairing, got to South Amboy at 4 o’clock on Wednesday morning. This is a specimen of great speed – twenty-nine miles in thirteen hours.

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One can only assume Douglas is being sarcastic about the speed of travel as, at an average of only 2.2mph, he could literally have walked it faster!

To Philadelphia

Wednesday, October 29th, 1823 – Waited on Mr Kennedy [who he?] and obtained some money of him [an advance on the account of the Horticultural Society, I guess?], then set out for Philadelphia. Got to New Brunswick at 4 o’clock in the afternoon and then by stage to Trenton, which I reached at 9 at night

Thursday, October 30th, 1823 – Left Trenton at 5 o’clock in the morning [another early start, in the dark] and got to Burlington at 9 [a.m., I think]. Went to Mr Smith and proceeded to take up the trees. In the evening called on W Coxe. Esq., [who he had met on his previous trip to Philadelphia], whom I am sorry to say I found very sick, so ill that he was by his medical attendant considered in danger. I am sorry; I am afraid he will not be able to get out before I leave.

October 31st – Finished taking up [the trees] and saw the trees packed by 11 o’clock. …….These I carried to the tavern and packed, and at 6 o’clock in the evening I went in steamboat to Philadelphia, which place I gained by 9 at night. The night was cold and rainy, with slight frost in the morning.

Planning a trip to New Jersey & Philadelphia

Saturday, October 25th, 1823 – Wrote to W Coxe, Esq., and to Mr Dick, Philadelphia. Putting to rights specimens and seeds in the forenoon. At Mr Floy’s raking up plants &c till midday when I went to Flatbush on Long Island and returned late at night.

Sunday 26th October 1823 – The fore part of the day I rectified some of the lists preparatory to going to Philadelphia. Today was cold and had much the appearance of winter. Mr Clinton was to dine at Dr Hosack’s; I was invited after dinner. I walked out to Mr Hogg’s and got to town after projecting a trip to Jersey in the morning.

William Coxe Jr - Apples and cider

Wednesday, August 20, 1823 - From Trenton to Burlington, went by steamer, distance fifteen miles. I made a point of calling on W Coxe, Esq., who used me very hospitably [including, apparently, a gift of bottles of cider, although there is no reference to this in his Journal.  The Horticultural Society later expressed effusive thanks for this cider, although I'm a little sceptical that it either kept for long or made it intact through a long sea voyage back to Britain.  If I'd been Douglas I'd have gazed reverently on it for a while....then drunk it!]. I saw his vast and extensive orchards......His trees are all in fine health and he was just on the eve of commencing his cider harvest [so the gifted bottles were from the previous year's harvest; if in fact they did keep, and even improved on keeping, all the more reason to drink them!]; he has in his garden a choice selection of peaches, apples, pears &c. He gave me to understand that he would send the Society a collection of keeping fruit in the fall, after his checking off what he considered to be new.

I took my departure for the inn. All his family were poorly, except one of his daughters.

William Coxe, Jr. (May 3, 1762 – February 25, 1831) was an important figure politically in America.
 

Born in Burlington, New Jersey, he served as a member of the New Jersey General Assembly 1796–1804 from 1806 to 1809, and again in 1816 and 1817. He served as speaker 1798–1800 and again in 1802. Coxe was elected as a Federalist to the Thirteenth Congress (March 4, 1813 – March 3, 1815).
 

But he is better known as a pomologist, of over twenty years experience. He maintained the first experimental orchard in America. His "A View of Cultivation of Fruit Trees, and the Management of Orchards and Cider (1817)" was the first book on pomology written by an American or about American fruit trees. The illustrated book, more than 250 pages in length, had chapters on apples, pears, quince, peaches, plums, apricots, nectarines, and cherries. It included historical discussions and descriptions of both tree and the fruit.
 

Clearly, he was an important figure for Douglas to meet and Douglas was well aware of that ("I made a point of calling….")

Here we see Douglas doing three things:

• Firstly, taking an intense interest in the gardens and cultivation of the areas he is travelling through;
• Secondly, applying himself to his commission from the Horticultural Society, to investigate American developments in fruit growing and bring back new and useful specimens, ideally as gifts or at as low cost as possible. His commission also extended to identifying new and potentially useful tree specimens, notably oaks of which there was now a considerable shortage in Britain.
• Finally, we see him moving steadily towards Philadelphia where we will visit Bartram’s Garden and other important horticultural localities.