226 A HISTORY OF GARDENING IN ENGLAND. 



sent in cases with moss laid round the roots .... you must 

 keep 'em in a cellar till your ground is capable of receiving 

 'em. . . . Take your roots out of the cases, and trim their 

 roots, . . . After steep the roots in water for a Day, and then 

 set them. ... If you observe this rule you won't lose one of 

 your Trees, tho' they have been out of the ground for three 

 or four months together." London and Wise's experience 

 follows, and is rather contradictory: "We had some peaches 

 grafted on Almond's Stocks from France, in 1698 .... which 

 were three months out of the ground, notwithstanding all 

 requisite care ... we could not save ten trees out of the 

 whole hundred." In another chapter it is recommended in 

 sending layers and slips from abroad, to rub them first with 

 honey, and then cover in damp moss, or stick them into " a 

 piece of Potter's Earth tempered with honey," and wrap round 

 with moss. In this work the growing of mushrooms, artificially, 

 is recommended. The process, a very lengthy one, of preparing 

 the beds, is described, which took nearly a year to complete. 

 Jean de la Quintinye's work is confined to fruit culture, and he 

 is especially minute in describing the correct pruning of fruit 

 trees, standards, and espaliers and wall-fruit. The " History and 

 Origin of Flowers," which forms a large part of the Retired 

 Gardener, is a disappointing title, as it is merely a collection of 

 the most fantastical myths and legends, such as the origin of the 

 foxglove. Juno, working one day, lost her thimble. Jove, to 

 pacify her, said he had turned it into a flower, and accordingly up 

 came a foxglove. Ornithogalum was a spoilt child, fed only on 

 white of egg, till he grew feeble and was dying, so Venus, pitying 

 him, turned him into the flower which bears his name and many, 

 other such stories. London and Wise give a quaint list of how 

 some plants are propagated, or are "vivacious and lasting, 

 which are commonly grown in our flower gardens." Anemonies 

 are vivacious by their fangs, Asphodils by their tubers, Auriculas, 

 Columbine, Gillyflowers, Grenadil or Passion-flower, Lavender, 

 Scabious, Sunflower, Thyme, and the like, by their roots ; Crown 

 Imperials by the suckers produced from their roots, Ranunculus 

 by their claws, Day-lily by its bulb, Daisy and Sea-thrift by their 

 tufts, Tuberose by its suckers, and so on. 



