"THE CURIOUS KNOTTED GARDEN" 37 



Poland, which had never been heard of before in 

 England, and the beautiful double yellow rose from 

 Constantinople. Leate was a member of the Wor- 

 shipful Company of Ironmongers, London, and 

 Master of it in 1616, 1626, and 1627, and his por- 

 trait, given here, said to be by Daniel Mytens, 

 hung in Ironmongers' Hall in London until this 

 famous building was destroyed by a German bomb 

 in 1917. Leate died in 1630. 



Leate, being a most enthusiastic flower fancier and 

 garden lover, not only imported rare specimens but 

 tried many experiments. Indeed we are surprised 

 in going through old garden manuals of Shake- 

 spearean days to see how many and how varied were 

 the attempts to produce "sports" and novelties. We 

 read of grafting a rosebush and placing musk in the 

 cleft in an effort to produce musk- roses; recipes for 

 changing the color of flowers; methods for produc- 

 ing double flowers ; and instructions for grafting and 

 pruning plants, sowing seeds, and plucking flowers 

 during the increase, or waning, of the moon. 



These professional florists and gentlemen 

 amateurs valued their rare specimens from foreign 

 countries as they valued their emeralds from Peru, 

 Oriental pearls from Ceylon and rubies from India. 

 Parkinson says very earnestly : 



