CHAPTER L. 



A HISTORICAL RECORD OF ENGLISH FRUIT GROWING. 



By Cecil H. Hooper, M.R.A.C, Librarian. Agricultural College, Wye, Kent. 



Historians tell us that certainly cherries 

 and possibly plums and apples were grown 

 in England by the Romans, but as to 

 whether cherrj^ trees were imported, or 

 whether they were grown from cherry 

 stones is not stated. Perhaps the seeds 

 were imported, as in later days the 

 Spanish and English pioneers in North 

 America first introduced European fruits 

 by bringing over the seeds. We learn that 

 the Romans taught the Britons to plant 

 the vine about a.d. 280. In the descrip- 

 tion of the garden of a manor in the 

 eleventh century, at the time of the 

 Domesday Book, it is said to have con- 

 tained the following vegetables : — Onions, 

 leeks, mustard, peas, and perhaps cab- 

 bage ; and the following fruits : — Apples, 

 pears, cherries, and probably damsons, 

 plums, strawberries, peaches, quinces and 

 mulberries, also frequently, near the 

 manor garden, a vineyard was planted. 

 The Domesday Book (1085) records 38 vine- 

 yards situate in the southern central coun- 

 ties. Needham, who wrote his "De Natura 

 Rerum " in the twelfth century, says the 

 vineyard was an important adjunct to the 

 mediaeval mansion; William, of Malmes- 

 bury, says of Gloucestershire, about 1125, 

 that the vine was either allowed to trail 

 on the ground or else each plant was 

 trained to a stake. A book, written in the 

 thirteenth century to assist landowners to 

 manage their estates, called the " Domes- 

 day of St. Paul," includes the duties of 

 the reeve (the present day foreman or 

 farm bailiff): — he was to rise early and 

 have the ploughs yoked, then walk in the 

 fields to see that all was right, and note 

 if the men be idle, or if they knock off 

 work before the day's task was fully done. 



The monks in their day were leaders in 

 good cultivation both of field and garden, 

 and had orchards adjoining the monastery 



as at Glastonbury. The monks were good 

 judges of land, and chose rich land with 

 beautiful surroundings. When the fig was 

 introduced into England is not known, but 

 there is a fig orchard at Tarring, near 

 Worthing, said to have been planted 

 originally by Thomas a Beckett, say about 

 1170. 



The severe winter of 1257 is said to have 

 destroyed many cherry, plum and fig 

 trees. 



Edward I. (1272-1307) was a great lover 

 of gardens; the cultivation of raspberries 

 and currants in gardens appears to date 

 from his time. 



Edward II., when at Bockinfold, in 

 Kent, received presents of grapes and 

 wine, sent him from the vineyards at 

 Rochester. In 1322 (Edward III.) two 

 bushels of green grapes were sold for 7s. 

 6d. Stowe tells us that " Richard II. 

 planted vines in great plenty, within the 

 Upper Pai'k of Windsor," and sold part of 

 the produce to his people. The wine 

 made in England was sweetened with 

 honey, and probably flavoured and col- 

 oured with blackberries. Four or five cen- 

 turies ago fine vineyards existed at Tun- 

 bridge Castle, Barming, and Hunton-at- 

 Buston, at this latter place the vines were 

 grown on terraces on the hill side. 



In the parish of Teynham, on land owned 

 by Colonel Honeyball, is the site of the 

 oldest known cherry orchard in Kent. 



In this parish, Richard Harrys, fruiterer 

 to King Henry VIII., obtained 105 acres 

 of good land, divided it into 10 portions, 

 and in 1533 bought sweet cherry and apple 

 trees from the continent and planted the 

 land. 



This part of Kent, from Chatham to 

 Canterbury, is still the most famous dis- 

 trict for cherries in England ; these 



