APPENDIX 



ANGLO-SAXON HORTICULTURE 



BEFORE the Norman Conquest the Anglo-Saxons 

 showed a fondness for nature, although they had little 

 opportunity to cultivate it. Appreciations of the beauty 

 of the changing seasons and of the fragrance of the 

 flowers were frequently expressed, as in the following 

 verses : 



Swecca swetast Of odours sweetest 



swylce on sumeres tid such as in summer's tide 



stinca<5 on stowum fragrance send forth in places 



stappelum faeste fast in their stations 



wynnum osfter wongum joyously o'er the plains 



wyrta geblowene blown plants 



hunig-flowende. honey-flowing. 



" Exeter Book," p. 178. 



Fseger fugla reord Sweet was the song of the birds 



folde geblowen the earth was covered with flowers 



geacas gear budon. cuckoos announced the year. 



" Exeter Book," p. 146. 



But except what they learned from the monks their 

 knowledge of horticulture must have been very slight, 

 and apart from the monasteries the enclosures where 

 they grew plants must have been of the simplest 



295 



