286 LONDON PARKS <^ GARDENS 



Bacon has left the impress of his foot upon their 

 gravel walks." 



After such a delightful summary of their charms 

 it seems cruel to try and dispel one of their most 

 treasured traditions — namely, that Bacon planted the 

 catalpa. It is a splendid and venerable tree, and 

 there is no wish to pull it from its proud position of 

 the first catalpa planted, and the finest in existence 

 in this country ; but it is hard to believe that Bacon 

 planted it, in the light of the history of the plant. 

 There is no mention of a catalpa in any of the 

 earlier writers — Gerard did not know it, and it is not 

 in the later edition of his work by Thomas Johnson, 

 in 1633, °^ ^^ Parkinson's " Paradisus," in 1629, or in 

 Evelyn's " Sylva," in 1664, ^^^ published after Bacon's 

 death. 



The tree was first described by Catesby in his 

 " Natural History of Carolina," a splendid folio which 

 appeared in 1731. There it is classed as Bignonia 

 urucu foliis^ or Catalpa^ as it was not until later that 

 Jussieu separated the genus Catalpa. He says the 

 tree was not known to the inhabitants of Carolina 

 till the seeds " were brought there from the remoter 

 parts of the country," " and though the inhabitants 

 are little curious in gardening, the uncommon beauty 

 of this tree induced them to propagate it, and it is 

 become an ornament to many of their gardens, and 

 probably will be the same to ours in England, it being 

 as hardy as most of our American plants : many of 

 them, now at Mr. Bacon's, at Hoxton, having stood 

 out several winters without any protection, except the 

 first year." Hoxton was then a place famous for its 

 nursery gardens. In 1767, in Catesby's volume on 



