318 THE LIFE OF SIR JOSEPH BANKS 



upon an artificial island ; a measure which met with 

 great success, no less than one hundred and forty bottles 

 of cranberries being the produce for 1813. Another was 

 the growing of Zizania aquatica, a singular grass used for 

 food by the Indians in Canada, from seeds imported in 

 1791. In a very few years' time this tender annual had 

 benefited by its acclimatization, and was become a hardy 

 and prolific plant, covering the pond quite thickly. 1 



It was in the improvement of apples, peaches, grapes, 

 figs that Sir Joseph was most successful. Strawberries 

 also were a great feature of Spring Grove : the original 

 three hundred and seventy-five square feet of strawberry 

 plants increased at last to five thousand six hundred and 

 forty-five feet. It was Banks that popularized the system 

 of mulching with straw, as above mentioned. 



Many new importations of flowers are on record which 

 were planted first in Spring Grove. The Rosa Banksia 

 was sent by Wm. Kerr from China to Kew, and also to 

 Banks's garden, where it became a great favourite, and 

 much attention was paid to its cultivation. Isaac 

 Oldaker (Lady Banks's gardener) submitted it to the 

 Horticultural Society in 1820, remarking that " by care 

 it had been transferred from an insignificant green- 

 house plant into a hardy and splendid creeping shrub." 



The Pseony was another triumph of these gardens. The 

 first came from China in 1789, and was cultivated at 

 Kew. In 1805 a splendid Double Scented Paeony (P. 

 albiflom fragrans) was received by Banks, and added to 

 the glories of Spring Grove. 



The Hydrangea hortemis is understood to have been 

 seen in England as early as 1740 (Paxton, p. 293). When 



1 " The ladies had a small pond stocked with gold-fish. One day 

 Lady Banks told me that Sir Joseph had a visit from two young 

 Americans. They were shewn round the grounds, and coming to the 

 edge of the pond, were asked if they had any fish of the kind in their 

 country. ' No, we have not, 1 said one. The other said, ' They appear to 

 be a species of red-herring ; but I never heard of, and never saw till 

 now, a red-herring alive.' " Barrow : Sketches, etc. 



