2o COLLEGE GARDENS 



vegetable statues of other gardens. An early appreciation 

 is that of Bishop John Earle in his " Hortus Mertonensis " 

 of 1624. 



Von Uffenbach, in 1710, wrote that it was considered the 

 finest in Oxford, although it consisted of " a grove or some 

 low dark walks which, as they have no proper air, are not 

 pleasant. At the side is a raised path and a poor pleasure 

 house." The latter was built in 1706, the year before the 

 terrace-walk was made on the old Town Wall.* 



At the present day it is an ideal garden of light and shade 

 and of beautiful views. The oldest living tree is undoubtedly 

 the " starling-beloved " Mulberry, which is believed to date from 

 the time of James I.t The trunk measures 7 ft. 8 in. at a 

 height of 2 1 ft. from the ground, and is therefore not much 

 smaller than the old tree at Balliol. The Merton tree is 

 the finer of the two. 



It is not improbable that some of the Mulberries of this 

 date were grown from the packets of seed distributed by 

 Royal Edict of James I., 1605, for the encouragement of the 

 silk industry in England. Unfortunately the seed circulated 

 was that of M. nigra, less suitable for silkworms than M. alba. 



It is essentially a garden of Limes, Yews, and Sycamores. 

 The finest Sycamore, girthing 10 ft., forms the subject of an 

 illustration to Mr. Henderson's book on the College. Another 

 girths 8 ft. 4 in., and the best of a clump of five, 7 ft. 4 in. ; 

 but we do not believe that any of these is as old as 1680, a 

 date at which there were stated to have been Sycamores in 

 the garden. 



The Lime Avenue was in existence in 1760, when there were 

 eight trees on the south side and seven on the north. These 

 were reduced to six a side. The largest, at the western end, 

 girths 9 ft. 6 in., and another 8 ft. 6 in. 



Of the trees planted in 1744 along the north wall none 



* Boase's " Oxford." 



f The dates are taken from Henderson's " History" of the College. 



