98 



A HISTORY OF GARDENING IN ENGLAND. 



by." The reason he gives for his name, is that the fruit ripens 

 so much earlier than the peach. The word apricot implies 

 the same idea, being derived from the Latin proecoqua, or 

 prcecocca. He says, in 1548, " We have very fewe of these trees 

 as yet," and in 1551, " I have sene many trees of thys kynde 

 in Almany, and som in England." In the beautiful old garden 

 at Littlecote, in Berkshire, there are two apricot trees which 

 still bear fruit, supposed to have been planted when the tree 

 was first introduced into this country. 



Tusser, 1573, gives a list of fruits to be set or removed 

 in January, and it includes Apricots, or Apricocks, as he calls 

 them. 



The following is his list : 



1. Apple trees of all sorts. 



2. Apricocks. 



3. Barberies. 



4. Boollesse, black and white. 



5. Cheries, red and black. 



6. Chestnuts. 



7. Cornet plums.* 



8. Damsens, white and black. 



9. Filbeards, red and white. 



10. Goose beries. 



11. Grapes, white and red. 



12. Greene or grasse plums. 



13. Hurtillberies-t 



14. Medlars or marles. 



15. Mulberie. 



16. Peaches, white and red. 



17. Peares of all sorts. 



18. Perare plums, { black and 



yellow. 



19. Quince trees. 



20. Respis. 



21. Reisons. 



22. Small nuts. 



23. Strawberies, red and white. 



24. Seruice trees. 



25. Walnuts. 



26. Wardens, white and red. 



27. Wheat plums. 



28. Now set ye may 



the box and bay, 

 Haithorne and prim, 

 for clothes trim. 



We cannot prove that red currants had a place in gardens 

 before this time, as they are never mentioned as such ; even 

 Gerard, in 1597, does not give them under that name, but 

 describes them as a very small kind of gooseberry without 



* cornel plum = cornel cherries. 

 f = 'whortleberries. 

 + =pear-plutn. 



