2 A HISTORY OF GARDENING IN ENGLAND. 



They cultivated most of the vegetables with which we are 

 still familiar. At Rome, said Pliny the Elder, " The garden 

 constituted of itself the poor man's field, and it was from the 

 garden that the lower classes procured their daily food." The 

 rich indulged in luxury and extravagance in the garden, and 

 vegetables and fruits were raised at great cost for their use, 

 \vl'irh wete< not enjoyed by the community at large. But most 

 of the vegetables which are still in general use were common 

 to : all- classes, -and many of these plants were brought by the' 

 Romans to this country. Some, of them took so kindly to this 

 soil, and were so firmly established, that they survived the 

 downfall of the Roman civilization. A curious example of this 

 is one species of stinging-nettle, which tradition says was intro- 

 duced by the Romans as an esteemed pot-herb. 



Tacitus, writing in the first century, says that the climate of 

 Britain was suitable for the cultivation of all vegetables and 

 fruits, except the olive and the vine. Before long, even the vine 

 was grown, apparently with some success. It is generally believed 

 that the Emperor Probus, about the year 280 A.D., encouraged 

 the planting of vineyards in Britain. Pliny tells us that the 

 cherry was brought in before the middle of the first century. 

 Perhaps this was some improved variety, as this fruit is 

 indigenous in this country. 



We cannot suppose that the Roman gardens in Britain were 

 as fine as those on the Continent. Gardens on such an elaborate 

 scale as that at Pliny's Villa, or at the Imperial Villas near Rome, 

 with their terraces, fountains, and statues, could scarcely have 

 been made in this country. But the remains of Roman houses 

 and villas which have been found in various places in England, 

 so closely resemble those found in other parts of the Empire, 

 that doubtless the gardens belonging to them were laid out as 

 nearly as possible on the same lines as those of Italy and Gaul. 

 The South of England could afford many a sheltered spot, where 

 figs and mulberries, box and rosemary, would grow as well as at 

 " Villa Laurentina," seventeen miles from Rome. A " terrace 

 fragrant with the scent of violets," trailing vines and ivy ; or 

 enclosures of quaintly-cut trees in the forms of animals or letters 

 filled with roses, would not there seem out of place. If the Roman 



