May 11,1876.) 



JOURNAL OF HORTIOULTDRE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



373 



6 inches in length. The flowers are rose-ooloured, but rather 

 email. Scilla natalensis var. sordida is distinct from the 

 species by its pnrple leaves, which colour is very decided on 

 the under side. Oxalis cernua flore-pleno is not at all com- 

 mon, but the flowers are very doable and ornamental. 



Choisya ternata is a noteworthy shrub flowering in the 

 Temperate Jiouse. It is a Mexican member of the Rutaceto, 

 and is said to be hardy in sheltered situations. The flowers 

 are large and white, and in a contemporary recently were 

 suggested as a substitute for Orange blossom. They are said 

 also to be largely used for decorative purposes on the Conti- 

 nent. The trifoliate leaves are of a dark green and very 

 handsome. They should not be bruised, as their smell is 

 disagreeable. 



The last, but certainly not the least plant we have to mention, 

 is Fritillaria recurva, a new species of a colour closely ap- 

 proaching to scarlet ; indeed, there is no other known species 

 of the same tint. After being open for a time the flowers 

 change towards orange or yellow. They are narrowly cim- 

 panulate, and are said to attain a depth of from 1 to li inch, 

 but in this case Ihey are not so large, probably from the bulbs 

 having been too recently received. The stem reaches a height 

 of from 1 to 2 feet, bearing very narrow leaves of greyish 

 green. It is a native of CUlifornia, and may safely be oou- 

 eidered an important introduction. 



EARLY WBITERS ON ENGLISH GARDENING. 



No. 13. 

 WILLI4JSI BULLEYN. 



WiLLiAJt BoLLEVN was a physician as well as a divine, and 

 in him was exemplified the advantage of the two professions 

 being combined. Even now in some remote districts the 

 villagers are indebted solely to the medicine chest of their 

 pastor, administered from by his skill, for remedies in their 

 sicknesses. As late as the year 1780 Dr. Gower was rector of 

 Chigwell, and practised at Chelmsford. Much more desirable 

 was tuoh a combination of professions in the sixteenth century 

 when Bnlleyu lived, for then roads were bad and conveyances 

 few. 



BuUeyn was a very superior man ; not only thoroughly con- 

 versant with the natural sciences as then known, but anxious 

 to publish his knowledge for the instruction of others, wrote 

 and published even whilst persecuted and imprisoned, and 

 rendered even the dry details of pharmacy attractive by his 

 jocular style. His friend Thomas Newton truly depicted his 

 characteristics in these lines— 



" His pleagant pen, hia mery mincle, and wit 



Did most men ijlease — yea, all of Jadgement sonnd ; 

 Tride trath hee tolde, and nayle on head hee hit ; 

 Examples stoare in all bis bookea are found." 



We have admitted him into our portrait gallery, not because 

 he wrote on practical gardening, for not a paragraph from his 

 pen on that bubject is known to us, but because he was the 

 strenuous advocate of its being more generally and efliciently 

 pursued in this country. He had travelled in Europe and he 

 observed what horticulture could produce, and he had travelled 

 over England and Scotland and observed what horticulture did 

 not there produce, yet was capable of producing. 



Between the years 1558 and 1585 lie published five works, 

 but being chiefly on medical subjects, the only one we are en- 

 titled to particularise appeared in 1570, and has this copious 

 title :— 



"Bulleius Bulwarke of Defence against all sicknesse, soare- 

 nesse, and woundes that do dayly assaulte maukinde; Which 

 Bulsfarke is kept with Hilarius the gardener and Health the 

 phisicion, with the Chirur;^iaa to helpe the wounded souldiours. 

 Gathered and practised from the most worthy learned, both 

 olde and new : to the great comfort of mankiude, by William 

 Bullein, Doctor of Phisicke. 15(i'2." 



The contents are in the form of a dialogue, Miroellus asking 

 for information and Hilarius imparting it in reply. The first 

 portion of the volume, " On Simples," relates chiefly to plants, 

 fruits, and flowers, and their mes. The author's merry effu- 

 sions may be appreciated from the following, included in his 

 notes on the common Eush : — 



" I mystlfe did know a Rushe growing in a fen side by Orforde 

 i I Suffolke, that might have spent three hundred markes by 

 the jeare. A few such Rushes be better than many greato 

 trees and bushes. There sometyme I did dwel at a place called 

 Blaxall near to that Eushe," where, he says, " I was nero kins- 

 man to the chiefest house in that town." 



Blaxall is a small parish within four miles of Wickham 

 Market, and BuUeyn was instituted its rector in 1550, but being 

 a protestant he resigned the living when Queen Mary succeeded 

 to the throne in 1553. Soon after his resignation of the living 

 of Blaxall he settled in practice as a physician in the city of 

 Durham, and became a proprietor with Sir Thomas Hilton in 

 the salt works near Tinmouth Castle. On the death of Sir T. 

 Hilton Dr. Bulleyn removed to London, and became known as 

 a skilful physician and a man of learning. He was elected a 

 member of the College of Physicians about the year 15(J0. A 

 series of misfortunes now pursued him, but were met by him 

 with that firmness which was to be expected from a man of 

 his strength of mind and true piety. He thus records them : — 

 " This country was Eomtime the land of a worthy knight, 

 called syr Thomas, the Baron of Hylton, to whom I dedicated 

 my little Booke intituled the Gouernment of /i('a/(/i, promisyng 

 in the same Booke to set forth an other booke, wherof the 

 copy perished with my Bookes, in shipwracke : and when I 

 came to London, to have reuiued my dead book, one William 



VV, B. 



Fig. 106.— WilUam Bulleyn. 



Hilton, gentleman, brother to the sayd syr Thomas Hilton, 

 accused me of no lesse cryme than of most cruel murder of 

 his owne brother, who dyed of a Feuer (sent ouely of God) 

 among his owne frends, fynishing his lyfe in the Christen 

 fayth. But this William Hilton caused me to be arrained 

 before that noble Prince, the Dakes grace of Norftolke, for the 

 same: to this end, to haue had me dyed shamefully: That 

 with the conetous Ahab he might haue, through false witnes 

 and periury, obtayned by the counsell of Jezabell, a Vint,yard, 

 by the pryce of blood. But it is wiitten. Testis memhix perihit, 

 a falee witnes shal com to naught, his wicked practise was 

 wisely espyed, his folly dcryded, his bloody purpose letted, and 

 fyuali\o I was with .tustics dolinered. Notwithstanding, yet 

 am I by the same William Hilton stil molested and troubled 

 as much as lyeth in him, to shorten my dayes by some meancs 

 or accidente, who with neither lawful pollioje, nor false testi- 

 mony, cold be tberto accomplish Lis wicked intent." Whilst 

 in gaol he wioto a great part of his medical works. His death 

 occurred .Tanuaiy 7tb, 1570. 



At the time he lived our gardening was neglected and under- 

 valued ; even its commonest productions were so dieeeteemed 

 that Henry VIII. 's last Queen sent to Holland for salading. 

 In excuse for this inferiority of onr garden produce, it was a 

 conclusive assumption to assert that our climate and soil were 

 unfavourable to their growth. Against this unfounded opinion 



