OF GARDENING IN 1685 



better, and the worse the more of the clay, A good 

 which is proper for oaks, and no other tree that j^ r ls 

 I know of. than an 



Fruits should be suited to the climate among ul P ea 

 us,as well as the soil; for there are degrees of one 

 and the other in England, where 'tis to little pur- 

 poseto plant any of the best fruits; aspeachesor 

 grapes, hardly, I doubt, beyond Northampton- 

 shire, at the furthestnorthwards: and I thought 

 it very prudent in a gentleman of my friends in 

 Staffordshire, who is a great lover of his garden, 

 to pretend no higher, though his soil be good 

 enough, than to the perfection of plums; and in 

 these (by bestowing south walls uponthem) he 

 has very well succeeded, which he could never 

 have done in attempts upon peaches and grapes ; 

 and a good plum is certainly better than an ill 

 peach. 



When I was at Cosevelt with that Bishop of 

 Munster, that made so much noise in his time, 

 I observed no other trees but cherries in a great 

 garden he had made. He told me the reason was, 

 because he found no other fruit would ripen well 

 in that climate, or upon that soil; and therefore 

 instead of being curious in others, he had only 

 been so in the sorts of that, whereof he had so 

 73 



