1 68 



The Walls failing in their anticipated cfTect were covered 

 \rith Glass, and thus led to the first erection of a regular 

 forcing structure of wliicli we have an Account.* Lady 

 Wortloy Montague in 1710, mentions having partaken of Pino 

 Apples at the Table of the Elector of Hanover ; and speaks of 

 them as being a thing she had never seen before, which, as her 

 Ladyship moved in the highest English Circles, she must, had 

 they been introduced to Table here. 



Mr. Fowlor, Gardener to Sir N. Gould, at Stoke Newington, 

 was the first to raise Cucumbers in Autumn, for fruiting about 

 Clnistmas. He presented the King, George th' I. wilh a 

 brace of full grown-ones on New Year's Day 172 1. f 



Even as late as the commencement of the century we arc 

 tracing, every garden vegetable in a greater or less dt^grec, was 

 obtained from Holland. The supplyors of the Royal Family sent 

 thither for Fruits and Pot Herbs; and the seedsmen obtained 

 from thence all their seeds. But in 1727, Switzer boasts of the 

 improvements made in his Art. Cucumbers that twenty five 

 years before were never seen at table until the close of May, 

 were then always ready in the first days of March, or earlier if 

 tried for. Melons were improved both in quality and eavliness. 

 "The first owing to the correspondence that our nobility and 

 gentry have abroad, now equalling if not excelling the French 

 and Dutch in their curious collections of seed, but the second 

 is owing to the industry and skill of our Kitchen Gardeners-." 

 Melons were now cut at the end of April, which before were 

 rare in the middle of June. The season of the Cauliflower be- 

 ing in perfection was prolonged from three or four, to six or 

 seven months. Kidney Beans were now forced. The season 

 of Pease and Bjans was extended to a period from April until 



• Switzer's Practical Fruit Gai\lon, p. SIS. + Bradley's General 

 Tie.itise on IIu>bamlry aii«l Gaiileniriij, v. 2. p. Gl. 



