250 HENRY HILL GOODELL 



ting down of the vast forest he had acquired by divine pro- 

 tection, and preferred to purchase elsewhere the timber he 

 required in erecting his large buildings. The monks of 

 Pipwel in Northampton did not cease to plant trees in their 

 forests and were said to watch over them as a mother over 

 an only child. For their own private necessities they made 

 use of dead, dry wood and reeds. 



As a rule, the monks took great care in the cultivation of 

 their land to conform to the laws of climate, soil, and lo- 

 cality. In the north they devoted themselves especially 

 to the raising of cattle, and in these countries the greatest 

 privileges that could be given them were woods and the 

 right to allow the swine to wander in them. In other coun- 

 tries they occupied themselves in the cultivation of fruit 

 trees, the improvement of which was their work. It was 

 the celebrated nursery of Chartreuse of Paris that up to the 

 epoch of the Revolution furnished fruit trees to almost the 

 whole of France, and the remembrance of their labors still 

 lives in the name of certain delicious fruits, such as the 

 doyenne and bon chretien pears. The finest orchards and 

 vineyards belonged to the monasteries. All the chronicles 

 speak of the cultivation of Mt. Menzing in the Canton of 

 Zug, which produced abundantly wheat and fruits and par- 

 ticularly nuts. The friendly relations existing between the 

 monasteries, the interchange of visits between the monks of 

 the different establishments, were of great advantage, for 

 foreign plants and fruits were exchanged and cultivated. 



The monks were the first to devise tools for gardening. 

 They had calendars in which were set down all that experi- 

 ence had taught them respecting the breeding of cattle, the 

 sowing of land, the harvesting of crops, and every kind of 



