64 



The Encyclopaedia of Gardening calls his book " an original 

 and truly valuable work;" and in page 87, 846, and 1104, 

 gives some interesting particulars of this gentleman's passion 

 for gardening. 



John Gibson, M.D. author of " The Fruit Gardener," 

 to which he has prefixed an interesting Preface on the Fruit 

 Gardens of the Ancients. In this Preface he also relates 

 the origin of fruit gardens, by the hermits, and monastic 

 orders. In his Introduction, he says, that " every kind of 

 fruit tree seems to contend in spring, who shall best enter- 

 tain the possessor with the beauty of their blossoms. Man- 

 kind are always happy with the prospect of plenty; in no 

 other scene is it exhibited with such charming variety, as in 

 the fruit garden and orchard. Are gentlemen fond of in- 

 dulging their tastes? Nature, from the plentiful productions 

 of the above, regales them with a variety of the finest 

 flavours and exalted relishes. To cool us in the heat of 

 summer, she copiously unites the acid to an agreeable sweet- 

 ness. Flowering shrubs and trees are often purchased by 

 gentlemen at a high price; yet not one of them can compare 

 in beauty with an apple tree, when beginning to expand its 

 blossoms."* Speaking of the greengage, he says, " its taste 

 is so exquisitely sweet and delicious, that nothing can exceed 

 it." He enlivens many of his sections on the cultivation of 

 various fruits, by frequent allusions to Theophrastus, Virgil, 



* Mr. Ellis, of Little Gaddesden, in his Practical Farmer, 8vo. 1732, thus 

 speaks on this subject: — " What a charming sight is a large tree in blossom, 

 and after that, when loaden with fruit, enough perhaps to make a hogshead 

 of cyder or perry ! A scene of beauty, hopes, and profit, and all! It may 

 be on less than two feet diameter of ground. And above all, what matter 

 of contemplation does it afford, when we let our thoughts descend to a single 

 kernel of an apple or pear ? And again, how heightened, on the beholding 

 so great a bulk raised and preserved, by Omnipotent Power, from so small 

 a body." 



