II THE GARDEN IN ENGLAND 41 



superstition. The gardener is carefully to 

 observe the moon and the aspect of the planets 

 before he sows. Thus '* the moone increasing 

 and running between the 28 degree of Taurus 

 and the xi degree of the signe Gemini, sow fine 

 seedes, and plant daintie herbes ; but the moone 

 found between the 28th degree of Gemini and 

 the exit of Cancer (although she increase) yet 

 bestow no daintie seeds in your earth." As a 

 protection against hail, Mountaine suggests a 

 device of Philostratus. You drag a '' Marsh 

 tortoise " round the garden on its back, and 

 then place it still on its back on a little mound, 

 carefully banking it up, so that the tortoise 

 cannot tumble over or do anything but flap its 

 legs. This is supposed to frighten away the 

 hail. Thomas Hill mentions that a " speckled 

 toad, enclosed in an earthen pot " was considered 

 another good remedy. 



Hill, like Bacon, was not a designer, or even 

 a practical fruit-grower. Bacon wrote as a 

 literary man, and Hill as a compiler of manuals. 

 The first attempt to deal with the laying out 

 of gardens in the light of actual experience was 

 made by Gervase Markham, who set himself to 

 write a complete account of the knowledge and 

 accomplishments which became the country 

 gentleman. Markham is English of the 

 English, and the most delightful of writers. 

 He had an amazing contempt for his pre- 

 decessors, who, in writing on gardens, had 



