190 THE NATURAL HISTORY 



miserable sort which used in old days to be made of barley 

 or beans, may contribute 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 disorders, 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. Kvery decent labourer 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 sordid parsi- 

 mony, and looked upon as regardless of the welfare of 

 their dependants. Potatoes have prevailed in this little 

 district, 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 walls of their abbeys 1 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 horti- 

 culture themselves that the knowledge of gardening made 

 such hasty advances. Lord Cobham, Lord Ila, and Mr. 

 Waller of Beaconsfield, were some of the first people of 



1 " In monasteries the lamp of knowledge continued to burn, however 

 dimly. In them men of business were formed for the state : the art of 

 writing was cultivated by the monks; they were the only proficients in 

 mechanics, gardening, and architecture." See Dalrymple's Annals of 

 Scotland. 



