33 



which are enumerated by Gerarde as being common among the 

 Welch, and by Threkeld as in use by the Irish. 



That the southern Britons actually had Gardens disposed 

 around their houses is stated by Strabo.* These of course 

 were chiefly a compound of our Kitchen and Orchard depart- 

 ments. There are many tacts on record besides those already 

 mentioned, which justify an inference that Gardening was pur- 

 sued by the Britons with attention. The Carrot grows wild 

 in Briton as it does in France, from the latter it was imported 

 into Italy, being only improved by cultivation. f Unless it had 

 been employed by the natives, we can scarcely conceive so 

 useless a weed as it is in a wild state, would have gained the 

 attention of the Roman legionaries. Turnips were particularly 

 abundant in Gaul, so extensively indeed were they culti- 

 vated as to be given to Cattle. J The idea of a Park, and 

 the accumulation of Game, has been fancifully traced by a 

 learned antiquary, to the ancient Britons, who particularly 

 delighting in the breeding of Hares, as Caesar informs us, 

 usually kept many of those animals about the courts of their 

 chiefs. II 



That the Apple was known and cultivated by the Britons 

 before the arrival of the Romans, we are warranted in believing 

 by the etymology of the name. In the Welch, Cornish, Ar- 

 morican and Irish languages or dialects, it is denominated the 

 Avail or Aball. The Iloedui, who dwelt in the modern Somer- 

 setshire, appear particularly to have cultivated this fruit, and 

 their town which stood upon the scite of the present Glaston- 

 bury, was known when the Romans first visited it, by the name 

 of Avallonia (Apple Orchard.^g 



* Strabo's Geography p. 306. f Plin. xix, c. 5. % Columella De Re 



Rujtica. b. ii. c. 10. U Whittaker's Hist, of Manchester, p. 235. 



h Richards, Chrou. p. 19. 



F 



