THE GARDENS OF EPICURUS 43 



never have done in attempts upon peaches and grapes ; 

 and a good plum is certainly better than an ill peach. 



When I was at Cosevelt with that Bishop of Minis- 

 ter, that made so much noise in his time, I observed 

 no other trees but cherries in a great garden he had 

 made. He told me the reason was, because he found 

 no other fruit would ripen well in that climate, or upon 

 that soil ; and therefore instead of being curious in 

 others, he had only been so in the sorts of that, whereof 

 he had so many, as never to be without them from 

 May to the end of September. 



As to the size of a garden, which will perhaps, in 

 time, grow extravagant among us, I think from five or 

 four, to seven or eight acres, is as much as any gentle- 

 man need design, and will furnish as much of all that 

 is expected from it, as any nobleman will have occasion 

 to use in his family. 



In every garden four things are necessary to be ! 

 provided for, flowers, fruit, shade, and water ; and 

 whoever lays out a garden without all these, must not 

 pretend it in any perfection : it ought to lie to the 

 best parts of the house, or to those of the master's 

 commonest use, so as to be but like one of the rooms 

 out of which you step into another. The part of your 

 garden next your house (besides the walks that go 



