SEVENTEENTH CENTURY 159 



the country. Walter Blith, author of The English Improver, 

 or a New Survey of Husbandry, 1649, was another " Lover of 

 Ingenuity," as he styled himself, and he also impressed upon 

 his countrymen the advantages of planting orchards, and 

 urged those in other parts of England to copy what was done 

 in the West of England, and to plant " the Vine, the Plumb, 

 the Cherry, Pear, and Apple" ; he advises also " the more 

 planting of cabbage, carrot, onion, parsnip, artichoak, and 

 Turnep." 



These led the way, and other Agriculturists followed this 

 good example, and tried by their writings to give a stimulus to 

 the industry of market-gardening. Ralph Austen, in 1653, 

 wrote a Treatise on Fruit Trees, and dedicated it to Hartlib. 

 The first part of his work, full of arguments in favour of garden- 

 ing and fruit culture, based on scriptural authority, and inter- 

 spersed with texts, is typical of the puritanical style of the 

 times. In another of his works, The Spiritual Use of an 

 Orchard or Garden of Fruit Trees, this is carried to such excess 

 that there is but little information about gardening, although 

 every process, grafting, transplanting, and so on, is compared 

 to some stage in a Christian's life. This puritanical spirit is 

 also apparent in the title of Adam (or Adolphus) Speed's book, 

 in 1659, Adam out of Eden, and the rest of the title-page is 

 indicative of the practical side of these writers. It runs thus : 

 " Shewing Among very many other things, An Approvement 

 of Ground by Rabbles ( = rabbits) from £200 annual Rent to 

 £2,000 yearly profit all charges deducted." But how this feat 

 was to be accomplished it is needless to go into ! 



During the Commonwealth, gardening was treated from a 

 more practical point of view ; what would pay best to cultivate 

 was considered, and how the soil could be most improved 

 and made more fruitful. Not many gardens were laid out, and 

 many of the existing ones suffered during the wars, especially 

 the Royal Gardens. Nonsuch and Wimbledon were sold, and a 

 survey made of Hampton Court, with a view to selling it, in 

 1653, but the order was " stayed until Parliament "took "further 

 notice," and it was left untouched. The absence of large 

 new gardens is more marked when compared with the numbers 

 which appear to have been laid out after the Restoration. 



