OBSEEYATIONS.l 



PKACTICE OF HOETICULTUEE. 



[nonesuch. 



PRELIMrNABT OBSERVATIONS ; 



CHAPTER II. 



NONESUCH; PROGRESS OP GARDENING IN ENGLAND 

 GARDENS AT WINDSOR. 



THE EOYAL 



PRELIMINA.IIY OBSERVATIONS. 

 By the time that the Eoman cominonwealth 

 had ceased to exist, the catalogue of fruits 

 then cultivated had risen to a considerable 

 number. According to Hirschfeld, the Eomans 

 had received the almond and the fig from 

 Syria, the citron from Media, the peach from 

 Persia, the apricot from Epirus, the pome- 

 granate from Africa ; pears, apples, and plums 

 from Armenin, and cherries from Pontus. The 

 list was greatly extended by tlie numerous 

 different species of some of these, and the 

 principles of grafting and pruning were both 

 understood and practised. Even the mode 

 of generating heat, and applying it to the 

 purposes of horticulture, seems to have been 

 known ; but, with the decline of the empire, 

 garden cultivation also declined, or, at least, 

 became stationary. Subsequently it seems to 

 haye sunk into the torpid state into which 

 the whole of Europe had passed ; but, with 

 the revival of learning, it awoke from the long 

 slumber of the dark ages, and, once more, 

 began to unfold its innumerable charms to 

 the eyes and imaginations of men. Eor some 

 time it continued to be repressed by the 

 dreams of alchemistical empiricism, the re- 

 strictions of unlucky days, and the supposed 

 effects of lunar influences ; but it gradually 

 shook itself free from these chains of igno- 

 rance and superstition, and joined in the race 

 of general improvement, which was fast taking 

 place in society. Throughout Europe its 

 advancement has been general ; but in no 

 state has it made greater progress towards 

 its present condition, than it has done in 

 Great Britain, where it has been cultivated 

 with great steadiness, assiduit)^ and ardour, 

 by men not only possessed of the means and 

 position, but of the talents capable of de- 

 veloping the science in all its departments. 

 It is to Britain, therefore, that we will chiefly 

 confine ourselves in treating of this subject ; 

 and, also, more especially to the middle por- 

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tions of the island, taking mostly, for our 

 guides and authorities, such men as Dr. 

 Lindley, the first of physiologists, and Mr. C. 

 Mackintosh, the first of gardeners. Before 

 entering upon this portion, however, we wld 

 notice a few of the royal gardens of England, 

 briefly tracing the progress of the art down 

 to the present time. 



NONESUCH. 



After the revival of gardening in England, 

 it made great progress in the time of 

 Henry VIII., who encouraged and patronised 

 the art, to an extent commensurate with his 

 means. It was in his reign that the royal 

 Gardens of Nonesuch were laid out and 



o 



planted. In a survey taken in 1650, above a 

 century after the death of Henry, these 

 gardens are said to have been divided into 

 several compartments, alleys, and rounds, in- 

 tended, no doubt, as an exemplification of 

 improving taste, and surrounded with thorn 

 hedges. On the north side was the kitciien 

 garden, and, on the west, a wilderness sepa- 

 rated from a little park by a hedge ; the whole 

 containing ten acres. In the private gardens 

 were fountains, and basins of marble, pyramids 

 and statuary, representing various subjects. 

 Indeed, it seems altogether to have been an 

 extraordinary place for the age. Hentzner 

 tells us, that " Nonesuch was built by 

 Henry YIII., with an excess of elegance and 

 magnificence even to ostentation ; as one 

 would imagine everything that architecture 

 can perform to have been employed in this 

 one work. Tliere are everywhere so many 

 statues, that seem to breathe ; so many 

 miracles of consummate art ; so many easts 

 that rival even the perfection of Eoman an- 

 tiquity, that it may well claim and justify its 

 name of Nonesuch, being without an equal; 

 or, as the poet sung — 



This which no equal has in avt or fame, 

 Britons deservedly do Nonesuch name. 



" The palace itself is so encompassed witk 



