190 The Natural History 



miserable sort which used in old days to be made of 

 barley or beans, may contribute not a little to the 

 sweetening their blood and correcting their juices ; for 

 the inhabitants of mountainous districts, to this day, 

 are still liable to the itch and other cutaneous disorders, 

 from a wretchedness and poverty of diet. 



As to the produce of a garden, every middle-aged 

 person of observation may perceive, within his o\nti 

 memory, both in town and country, how vastly the 

 consumption of vegetables is increased. Green-stalls in 

 cities now support multitudes in a comfortable state, 

 while gardeners get fortunes. Every decent labourer 

 also has his garden, v/hich is half his support, as well as 

 his delight; and common farmers provide plenty of beans, 

 peas, and greens, for their hinds to eat with their bacon ; 

 and those few that do not are despised for their sordid 

 parsimony, and looked upon as regardless of the welfare 

 of their dependents. Potatoes have prevailed in this 

 little district, by means of premiums, within these twenty 

 years only ; and are much esteemed here now by the 

 poor, who would scarce have ventured to taste them in 

 the last reign. 



Our Saxon ancestors certainly had some sort of 

 cabbage, because they call the month of February sprout- 

 cale ; but, long after their days, the cultivation of gardens 

 was little attended to. The religious, being men of 

 leisure, and keeping up a constant correspondence with 

 Italy, were the first people among us that had gardens 

 and fruit-trees in any perfection, within the walls of their 

 abbies ^ and priories. The barons neglected every 

 pursuit that did not lead to war or tend to the pleasure 

 of the chase. 



It was not till gentlemen took up the study of horti- 

 culture themselves that the knowledge of gardening 

 made such hasty advances. Lord Cobham, Lord 11a, 



^ " 111 monasteries the lamp of knowledge continued to burn, 

 however dimly. In them men of business were formed for the 

 state : the art of writing was cultivated by the monks ; they were 

 the only proficients in mechanics, gardening, and architecture." — 

 See Dairy mple's Annals of Scotland. 



