CHAPTER VII. 



KITCHEN GARDENING UNDER ELIZABETH AND JAMES I. 



"Whose golden gardens seeme th' Hesperides to mock 

 Nor these the Damson wants nor daintie Abricock 

 Nor Pippin, which we hold of kernel fruits the king 

 The Apple-Orendge, then the sauory Russetting 

 The Peare-maine which to France long ere to us was knowne 

 Which carefull Frut'rers now haue denizend our owne 



The sweeting, for whose sake the Plowboyes oft make warre 

 The Wilding, Costard, then the wel-known Pomwater 

 And Sundry other fruits of good yet severall taste 

 That haue their sundry names in sundry counties plac't." 



Drayton, Polyolbiou. 



'T^HE changes in the kitchen, or "cooks-garden,"* were not so 

 marked as in the "garden of pleasant flowers." t As the 

 flower-garden lay in front of the house, " in sight and full prospect 

 of all the chief and choicest roomes of the house ; so contrariwise, 

 your herbe garden should be on the one or other side of the 

 house . . . for the many different sents that arise from the 

 herbes, as cabbages, onions, &c., are scarce well pleasing to 

 perfume the lodgings of any house." This is certainly a change 

 from the gardens of earlier times, when herbs covered more or 

 less the whole area of the average garden, when groundsel was 

 allowed a place with leeks, thyme, and lettuce, and was classed 

 among garden herbs indiscriminately with periwinkles, roses, and 

 violets. 



Hohnshed (died 1580), describing England in his day, points 

 out that the cultivation of vegetables was greatly increased, and 



* Letter from Peter Kemp to Cecil, 1561. f Parkinson. 



