ii4 Fruits and Fruit- Trees. 



mentioned in the earliest Saxon charters, and plainly as 

 having been found in the country by the Saxons, not 

 made by them. The religious fraternities of the dark 

 ages, spreading out of Italy in all directions, helped to 

 disseminate useful vegetables and fruits. Vineyards, 

 under their influence, as well as gardens and orchards, 

 became customary adjuncts to the monasteries. They 

 are mentioned in Domesday Book as existing in Kent, 

 Middlesex, Hampshire, Wilts, Dorset, Hertfordshire, Nor- 

 folk, and Suffolk, and continued to be common for many 

 centuries after the Conquest. During the wars of the 

 Roses all the best of them seem to have been utterly 

 ruined, excepting such as pertained to the ecclesiastical 

 institutions, and these likewise perished at the time of 

 the Reformation. Since then, the culture of the vine in 

 England has been carried on with regard chiefly to the 

 fruit as an elegant addition to the table. There is no 

 reason, however, why the ancient cultivation out-of-doors 

 for the sake of wine-manufacture should not in some 

 measure be restored. There are plenty of sunny slopes 

 where the plant would thrive just as it did of old. It 

 is certain that there has been no deterioration in the 

 local climate such as would hinder : if any change, it has 

 been one of improvement, such as is promoted by the 

 drainage of moor and fen. What is wanting to ensure 

 success is not another climate, but care and pains in the 

 cultivation. 



The beginning of the now universal system of forcing, 

 or accelerating the production of grapes, by means of 



