NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE 



all ranks of people in the south, instead of that miserable sort 

 which used in old days to be made of barley or beans, may con- 

 tribute not a little to the sweetening their blood and correcting 

 their juices ; for the inhabitants of mountainous districts to 

 this day are still liable to the itch and other cutaneous dis- 

 orders, from a wretchedness and poverty of diet. 



As to the produce of a garden, every middle-aged person 

 of observation may perceive, within his own memory, both in 

 town and country, how vastly the consumption of vegetables 

 is increased. Green-stalls in cities now support multitudes in 

 a comfortable state, while gardeners get fortunes. Every 

 decent laborer also has his garden, which is half his support, 

 as well as his delight ; and common farmers provide plenty 

 of beans, peas, and greens for their hinds to eat with their 

 bacon ; and those few that do not are despised for their sor- 

 did parsimony, and looked upon as regardless of the welfare 

 of their dependants. Potatoes have prevailed in this little dis- 

 trict by means of premiums within these twenty years only ; 

 and are much esteemed here now by the poor, who would 

 scarce have ventured to taste them in the last reign. 



Our Saxon ancestors certainly had some sort of cabbage, 

 because they call the month of February " sprout-cale ; " but 

 long after their days the cultivation of gardens was little 

 attended to. The religious, being men of leisure, and keeping 

 up a constant correspondence with Italy, were the first people 

 among us that had gardens and fruit-trees in any perfection 

 within the wall of their abbeys 3 and priories. The barons 

 neglected every pursuit that did not lead to war or tend to 

 the pleasure of the chase. 



It was not till gentlemen took up the study of horticulture 

 themselves that the knowledge of gardening made such hasty 

 advances. Lord Cobham, Lord Ila, and Mr. Waller, of Bea- 

 consfield, were some of the first people of rank that promoted 

 the elegant science of ornamenting without despising the 

 superintendence of the kitchen quarters and fruit walls. 



A remark made by the excellent Mr. Ray, in his " Tour of 

 Europe," at once surprises us, and corroborates what has been 

 advanced above ; for we find him observing so late as his days 

 that " the Italians use several herbs for sallets, which are not 



