Book I. 



BRITISH WORKS ON GARDENING. 



1103 



riments on vegetable sexuality. He died in 1729, 

 and left funds for a botanical sermon, which is deli- 

 vered annually on Whitsun Tuesday, at St. Leon- 

 ard's Shoreditch ; it was preached for many years 

 by Dr. Colin Milne, by whom it was published in 

 1779, and has since been continued by the Rev. Mr. 

 Ellis, of Merchant Taylors' school, who receives 

 three guineas out of the funds left by Fairchild for 

 each sermon. 



The City Gardener; containing the Method of Cultivating 

 such Plants as will be Ornamental, and thrive best in the 

 London Gardens. 1722. 8vo. 



1724. Miller, Philip, F.R.S., a celebrated botanist 

 and gardener, author of the Gardener's Dictionary, 

 and of several other works, was born 1692. His 

 father, according to Professor Martyn, " was gar- 

 dener to the Company of Apothecaries, and he suc- 

 ceeded his father in that office in 1722." We have 

 been informed, however, by Watts, a nurseryman 

 at Acton, one of the few surviving gardeners who 

 worked under him, that Miller's father was a mar- 

 ket-gardener, somewhere about Deptford or Green- 

 wich, and that Miller himself was a commercial 

 florist, and had a small garden near the situation of 

 the present King's Bench Prison in Surrey. He 

 was considered an ingenious florist, and was selected 

 by the apothecaries as their gardener, on the per- 

 petual grant of the garden-ground by Sir Hans 

 Sloane in 1722, It appears also from Field's History 

 of the Chelsea Garden (pub. 1821) that there hi no 

 evidence that Miller succeeded his father. Miller 

 " raised himself, by his merit, from a state of obscu- 

 rity, to a degree of eminence, rarely, if ever before 

 equalled, in the character of a gardener. He added 

 to his knowledge of the theory and practice of gar- 

 dening, that of the structure and characters of 

 plants, and was practically versed in the methods of 

 Ray, Tournefort, and Linnaeus. He adopted the 

 system of the latter in the seventh edition of his 

 work with great reluctance ; but was convinced at 

 length by the arguments of Sir W. Watson and W. 

 Hudson. He maintained a correspondence with 

 the most eminent botanists on the continent ; among 

 others, with Linnaeus, who said his Dictionary was 

 not merely one of gardening, but of botany. Non 

 erat Lexicon Hortulanorum, sed Botanicorum. By 

 other foreigners he was emphatically styled Hortu- 

 lanorum Princeps, the ' Prince of Gardeners.' To 

 his superior skill the curious owe the culture and 

 preservation of many fine plants, which would 

 otherwise have been lost." His infirmity, Professor 

 Martyn continues, "induced him to resign his office 

 a little time before his decease, which took place in 

 1771, in his eightieth year." He was consulted by 

 gentlemen on the subject of planting and laying out 

 grounds, and particularly by the Dukes of Bedford, 

 Northumberland, and Richmond. He had many 

 pupils, among whom were the late Mr. Forsyth 

 and W. Aiton. John Ellis, who seems to have had 

 some pique at Miller, says, he was turned out of the 

 garden for his obstinacy and impertinence to the 

 apothecaries, but his salary continued. His vanity, 

 he says, was so raised by his voluminous publica- 

 tions, that he considered no man to know anything 

 but himself; "though Gordon, Aiton, and Lee, 

 have been long infinitely superior to him in the 

 nicer and more delicate parts of gardening." Ac- 

 cording to Field's tract, he gave in his resignation 

 in consequence of some altercation or misunder- 

 standing with his employers. This happened in 

 1769, when he removed to a house close by that 

 part of the Chelsea churchyard where he was 

 buried, and near which an obelisk was erected to 

 his memory by the Horticultural Society in 1810. 



He was succeeded by the late W. Forsyth, F.A.S. 



1. The Gardener's and ' Florist's Dictionary, or a complete 

 System of Horticulture. 2 vols. 8vo. Lond. 



This work was recommended by the most famous garden- 

 ers and nurserymen of that time ; by Thomas Fairchild at 

 Hoxton, Robert Furber at Kensington, Robert Smith at 

 Vauxhall, Samuel Driver at Lambeth, Moses James at Stand- 

 gate, Obadiah Low at Battersea, Christopher Gray at Fulham, 

 Benjamin Whitmill at Hoxton, Francis Hunt at Putney, 

 and William Gray junior at Fulham. Weston says, these 

 persons were united in a society for the improvement ot gar- 

 dening ; that Miller acted as their secretary ; and that this 

 work was in some degree the produce of their joint efforts. 



2. Seven years after this Miller published his Gardener's 

 Dictionary in folio. This is commonly regarded as the first 

 edition, and is entitled " The Gardener's Dictionary ; con- 

 taing the Methods of cultivating and improving the Kitchen, 

 Fruit, and Flower Garden. As also, the Physic Garden, 

 Wilderness, Conservatory, and Vineyard, aocording to the 

 Practice of the most experienced Gardeners of the present 

 age. Interspersed with the History of the Plants, the Cha- 

 racters of each Genus, and the Names of all the particular 

 Species, in Latin and English; and an Explanation of all 

 the Terms used in Botany and Gardening. Together with 



Accounts of the Nature and Use of Barometers, Thermo- 

 meters, and Hygrometers proper for Gardeners; and of the 

 Origin, Causes, and Nature of the Meteors, and the particu- 

 lar Influences of Air, Earth, Fire, and Water upon Vegeta- 

 tion, according to the best natural Philosophers. Adorned 

 with Copper Plates. By Philip Miller, Gardener to the 

 Botanic Garden at Chelsea, and F.R.S. 



The seventh edition is entitled, " The Gardener's Dic- 

 tionary : containing the best and newest Methods of culti- 

 vating and improving the Kitchen, Fruit, Flower Garden, 

 and Nursery. As also for performing the practical Parts ot 

 Agriculture: including the Management of Vineyards, with 

 the Methods of Making and Preserving the Wine, according 

 to the present Practice of the most skilful Vignerons in the 

 several Wine Countries in Europe. Together with Directions 

 for Propagating and Improving, from real Practice and Ex- 

 perience, all Sorts of Timber Trees. 



The ninth or Professor Martyn's edition, is distinguished 

 by the arrangement of the matter, and the completeness of 

 the enumeration of species; all being included which are to 

 be found in the fourteenth edition of Linnaeus's Systema Vege 

 tabilium, with the exception of the minute tribes of mosses, 

 algae, or seaweeds, and fungi or mushrooms; of which the 

 generic characters are commonly given, together with such 

 species as are used in food, or in any of the arts. In all the 

 former editions of the dictionary, the culture was generally 

 mixed -with the descriptions of the species, and was frequently 

 repeated several times under the same genus, but here the 

 scientific, popular and practical parts being kept separate 

 they may each be consulted with facility ; and what was be- 

 fore confused, now becomes distinct and obvious. 



This laborious work, Professor Martyn observes, is the re- 

 sult of the unwearied application of what talents he possesses, 

 and time he could spare from the duties of his profession 

 during twenty years ; no attention or industry has been want- 

 ing on his part ; and he has strained every nerve to render it 

 as complete in its kind as the nature of so extensive an under 

 taking will allow. 



5. On a Method of Raising some Exotic Seeds. (Phil. Trans. 

 Abr. vii. 250. 1728.) 



4. On the early Flowering of Tulips, and other Bulbous 

 Plants, when placed in Bottles filled with Water. (lb. 467.) 



1726. Whitmill, Benedict. 



The Gardener's Universal Calendar. Lond. 8vo. 



1727. / . S . 



The Vineyard ; being a Treatise, showing the Manner of 

 Planting and cultivating Vines, in Foreign Parts ; Directions 

 for making Wines: Method of Planting Vines in England. 

 New Experiments in Grafting and Inoculating all Sorts of 

 Fruits ; the best Method of raising several Sorts of compounded 

 Fruits. 8vo. 



1728. Castel, Robert, a London architect and an- 

 tiquary. 



The villas of the ancients, illustrated with cuts. Lond. fol. 



1728. Langley, Batty, an architect of houses and 

 gardens; born 1696, at Twickenham, where he 

 resided; author of several architectural works. 



1. Practical Geometry, applied to the Arts of Building, 

 Surveying, Gardening, and Mensuration. Lond. 1726.. 



2. The Sure Method of Improving an Estate by Plantations 

 of Oak, Elm, Ash, Birch, and other Timber Trees. Lond. 



1728. 4to. 



3. Pomona, or the Fruit Garden Illustrated : being the sure 

 Method of Preserving the best Kinds of Fruit ; with Direc- 

 tions for Pruning, Nailing, Thinning, &c. With Cuts. Lond. 



1729. fol. 



4. New Principles of Gardening ; or, the Laying out Pastures, 

 Groves, Wildernesses, Labyrinths, Avenues, Parks, &c. 



1729. Cowel, John, gardener at Hoxton. 



1. Account of the Olive in Blossom, Torch Thistle, and 

 Glastonbury Thorn. Lond. 8vo. 



2. Curious and Profitable Gardener, containing the newest 

 Methods for improving Land by Grain or Seed, also a Descrip- 

 tion of his Great Aloe, and other exotics, with his Manner of 

 preserving them in Winter. 8vo. 



1729. Triewald, Martin, Director of Mechanics, 

 Sweden, author of some papers in the transactions 

 of the Roval Society. An account of tulips and such 

 bulbous plants, blowing much sooner when their 

 bulbs are placed upon bottles filled with water, than 

 when planted in the ground. {Phil. Trans, vol. 

 xxxvii. 80, 81.) 



1730. A Society of Gardeners. This society con- 

 sisted of the most eminent florists and nurserymen of 

 the time, who state in their preface, that finding 

 great inconvenience from the unsettled and vague 

 nomenclature of plants which then existed, they re- 

 solved to undertake this work for the public benefit. 

 They published only one part, dedicated to Thomas 

 Earl of Pembroke and Montgomery, and a preface 

 enumerating the most eminent encouragers of gar- 

 dening of the time. Weston and Martin conjecture 

 that this work gave rise to the folio edition of 

 Millers' Dictionary, which appeared in 1731 (the 

 8vo. in 1724.), Miller being secretary to the society. 



1730. The Gardener's Catalogue. — Catalogus Arborum Fru- 

 ticumque turn Exoticarum turn Domesticarum, &c. or, The 

 Gardener's Catalogue of Trees and Shrubs, both Exotic and 

 Domestick, which are hardy enough to endure the Cold of our 

 Climate in the open Air, ranged in an Alphabetical Order, 

 according to their most approved Latin Names; with an Index 

 of the English Names referring to the Latin. To which is 

 added the Characters of each Genus in English, and a short 

 Account of the different Growths of each Tree or Shrub, illus- 

 trated with 21 Copper Plates.in which there are above 50 beau- 

 tiful Plants which were designed by the famous Mynheer Van 

 Huysum, and are represented in their proper Colours. Done 

 by a Society of Gardeners, price 1/. lis. 6d. stitched, in fol. 



