68 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 



that hand you sow with. The paper must not be 

 much open at the end. Then with your hand, or a 

 trowel, to smooth the earth into each trail." 



Ill 



Old Garden Authors 



The books from which both professional and 

 amateur gardeners gained their instruction are full 

 of delightful information, and to us are quaintly 

 expressed. Many of them were standard authori- 

 ties for several generations and went through vari- 

 ous editions, which, as time went on, were touched 

 up by a more recent authority. One of these well- 

 known garden authors was Thomas Hill, who wrote 

 under the peculiar name of Didymus Mountain; an- 

 other was Gervase Markham whose "Country 

 Farm," published in London in 1616 (the year of 

 Shakespeare's death), often passes for an original 

 work. "The Country Farm," however, was an 

 earlier book, and a French one at that, called "La 

 Maison Rustique," published in Paris in 1600 by 

 Charles Stevens and John Liebault, "doctors of 

 physicke." This was translated into English very 

 soon after its appearance by Richard Surflet and 

 published under the title of "The Country Farm." 



