NINETEENTH CENTURY 269 



which weighed 19I pounds, and measured 20 inches in dia- 

 meter. It was sent by the Duke of Portland to the Marquess 

 of Rockingham, carried by men, like the spies returning from 

 the promised land. Early in this century a vine was brought 

 from abroad and planted at Cannon Hall, Yorkshire, which 

 has since produced the well-known variety bearing that name. 

 Haynes wrote on the strawberry, gooseberry, and raspberry. 

 The strawberry was being much improved, and new and large 

 varieties were produced by crossing the Virginian with the 

 Chilian, a species introduced early in the eighteenth century. 

 Old-fashioned gardens still retained the hautboy (Fragaria 

 elatior), now so rarely to be seen, having been entirely superseded 

 by the larger American species, but it still held its own during 

 the first half of the nineteenth century. In 1848 " Myatt's 

 new Fertilized Hautboy strawberry " received much praise, 

 although about the same time " Myatt's British Queen " was 

 accounted the best strawberry grown. This Myatt was a well- 

 known nurseryman, and vegetables brought out by him are 

 still in commerce, such as " Myatt's ash-leaf " potato. His 

 name will remain familiar to Londoners, who know nothing of 

 the worth of his produce, from " Myatt's Fields," the public 

 park in Camberwell, on the site of his nursery garden. He 

 greatly improved many fruits and vegetables, and grew the 

 " Victoria " plum, which he found as a seedHng in a cottage 

 garden in Sussex. Gooseberries were in high favour, and new 

 varieties made their appearance every season, and the sizes 

 and weights of the berries were carefully compared and 

 recorded.^ 



Pineapples were grown in all large gardens where hot-houses 

 were kept up. The process necessary to produce pines was 

 both lengthy and costly. The usual method took three years, 

 and the " New Providence " and other very large varieties 

 required this treatment. The first year was passed in the 

 " propagation or nursing pit," the next in the " successive 

 pit," and the third in the fniiting-house, which had to be 

 larger, and kept at a higher temperature. The shorter or 

 " Biennial course," specially suited to the " Queen " pine, was 



^ See Midland Florist and Horticulturist, conducted by John Frederick 

 Wood, 1847 and following years. 



