158 A HISTORY OF GARDENING IN ENGLAND 



first gardeners " to plant cabbages, " coleflowers," and to sow 

 turnips and carrots : " they paid 8 pound per acre, yet the 

 gentleman was not content, fearing they would spoile his ground 

 because they did use and dig it. . . . Man}^ parts of England 

 are wholly ignorant . . . where the name of gardening and 

 ho wing is scarcely known. . . . Gardening-ware (unless about 

 London) is not plentiful or cheap. . . . We have not nurseries 

 sufficient in this land of Apples, Pears, Cherries, Vines, Chest- 

 nuts, Almonds, etc. : but gentlemen are necessitated to send 

 to London some hundred miles for them." Further on, how- 

 ever, he says that " there are many gallant orchards " in Kent, 

 about London, in Gloucestershire, Hereford, and Worcester, 

 and these are known to have existed a long time previous to the 

 fifty years he ascribes to them. In Kent and Surrey, he adds, 

 plums usually " pay no small part of the rent." 



It was not the Puritan party only who were occupied in 

 the improvements of orchards. One of the great Royalist 

 families took a prominent part in the work. To this day, at 

 Holme Lacy, in Herefordshire, is to be seen the same long green 

 walk flanked with yew hedges, down which Charles I. may 

 have passed when he stayed with Lord Scudamore, the year 

 which is marked in history by his loss of the Battle of Naseby. 

 After the death of the King he had served so faithfully, Scuda- 

 more went with the expedition to the relief of the French 

 Huguenots at Rochelle, and, on his return to Holme Lacy, 

 occupied himself with planting and grafting apple-trees. He 

 introduced the Red Streak Pippin, from which the choicest 

 sort of cider was made. Ambrose Philips (1671-1749) com- 

 memorates this fact in his poem Pomona. He praises the 

 Musk apple, and adds : 



" Yet let her to the Red-streak yield, that once 

 Was of the sylvan kind, uncivilized, 

 Of no regard, 'till Scudamore's skilful hand 

 Improv'd her, and by courtly discipline 

 Taught her the savage nature to forget — 

 Hence called the Scudamorean plant, whose wine 

 ■WTiocver tastes, let him with grateful heart 

 Respect that ancient loyal house." 



The orchard at Holme Lacy still remains, and the garden 

 now possesses one of the finest walks of " cordon " fruit in 



