BOOKOFOLD-WORLDGARDENS 



The true produce excellent fruits ; and the default of it 

 'English 1S On ^ tne snort season of our heats or sum- 

 gardens mers,by which many of the latter are left behind, 

 and imperfect with us. But all such as are ripe 

 before the end of August, are, for ought I know, 

 as good with us as anywhere else. This makes 

 me esteem the true region of gardens in Eng- 

 land, to be the compass of ten miles about Lon- 

 don; where the accidental warmth of air, from 

 the fires and steams of so vast a town, makes 

 fruits, as well as corn, a great deal forwarder 

 than in Hampshire or Wiltshire, though more 

 southward by a full degree. 



Thereare, besides the temper of our climate, 

 two things particular to us, that contribute 

 much to the beauty and elegance of our gardens, 

 which are the gravel of our walks, and the fine- 

 ness andalmost perpetual greenness of our turf. 

 The first is not known anywhere else, which 

 leaves all their dry walks in other countries 

 very unpleasant and uneasy. The other cannot 

 be found in France or in Holland as we have 

 it, the soil not admitting that fineness of blade 

 in Holland, nor the sun that greenness in 

 France, during most of the summer ; nor indeed 

 is it to be found but in the finest of our soils. 



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