INTRODUCTION 197 



He took special pains with his outdoor vines ; glass 

 in those days was for Dives only ; and we read of con- 

 stant tacking and trimming, training, thinning, and dis- 

 budding. On the 22nd of October 1760 we note with 

 hopeless bewilderment that he transplanted a Muscadine 

 vine, which John had anointed with Dr. Hill's Mummy, 

 and had planted as a cutting in the preceding March. 



He was large-hearted, as gardeners generally are. He 

 was not jealous of " Mrs. Snook's Black Cluster," three 

 weeks earlier than his own ; and he was glad when 

 Abraham Low had " fifty bunches of grapes on a vine from 

 a cutting planted only three years ago." He rejoiced to see 

 that at Selborne every decent labourer had his garden, 

 which was half his support as well as his delight, and that 

 the common farmers provided plenty of beans and peas 

 and greens for their hinds to eat with their bacon. Had 

 he lived in our days he would have gratefully applauded 

 the efforts which are being made by some of our County 

 Councils and of our benevolent landlords to promote 

 horticulture among the working-classes by the enlargement 

 and improvement of their cottage gardens in the country, 

 and by allotments of lands by the towns. 



He was generous to his flowers, his fruits, and his 

 friends not one of those who exhaust the soil, take all 

 they can get, and make no return ; disciples of the Gampean 

 creed, "we gives no trust ourselves, but puts a deal else- 

 vere ; these is our religious feelings, and we finds 'em 

 answer." We read of him, on the contrary, in a constant 

 and happy exchange of those reciprocities which should 

 always exist between the gardener and his garden, and by 

 which the liberal soul is made fat. We have long lists 

 of farmers from whom he obtained farm-yard manure, as 

 many as twenty cart-loads at a time, and he imparted in 

 addition " lime, ashes, marl and peat, blacksmith's cinders, 

 and soot from the malt-house." Barrels of soft water stood 

 here and there for the refreshment of his plants in time 

 of drought. 



