270 A HISTORY OF GARDENING IN ENGLAND 



first recommended by Abercrombie.^ Pineries continued to 

 exercise gardeners' skill and patience until rapid communica- 

 tion enabled pines to be brought from the West Indies far more 

 cheaply than it was possible to grow them, and then other 

 uses were soon found for the old pine-pits. 



A fine work on fruit-trees, with weU-drawn and coloured 

 plates, by Brookshaw, Pomona Britannica, 1817, is principally 

 taken from the fruit grown in the royal gardens at Hampton 

 Court. In this book, besides some varieties which were then 

 quite new, there are drawings of many of the old favourites. 

 The " Catherine Pear " is figured and described as ripening 

 in August, " sweet and juicy, with a degree of musky flavour : 

 but at best is considered as a common pear." " The old 

 Newington Peach," " Duke Cherry," " Norfolk Beefin Apple," 

 " Red Streak Pippin," and many others are still favourites, 

 and of Tradescant's Cherry, Brookshaw writes : " I am doubt- 

 ful whether we have a better black cherry than this, and yet 

 it is so very scarce, and so little known, that it would be the 

 most difficult task to find it. It is a cherry that was raised 

 by Sir John Tradescant, gardener to King Charles I., different 

 in shape from any other black cherry ; and its flavour is un- 

 like that of any other cherry ; it ripens about 20th June." 

 The history such as this of many fruits and vegetables has been 

 handed down by Phillips,^ who was the author of several 

 valuable works on the subject. Another gardener who turned 

 his attention chiefly to fruit-trees was William Forsyth (1737- 

 1804), who succeeded Miller as Curator of the Chelsea garden, 

 and was afterwards appointed Royal gardener at Kensington, 

 His works on fruit-trees and the best methods of training and 

 pruning went through many editions. He is said to have 

 done more for the improvement of fruit culture than any other 

 gardener, although Knight disagreed with him on some of his 

 methods of treating trees. Thomas Andrew Knight, President 

 of the Horticultural Society, was himself an improver of fruit, 

 especially of apples. He produced the Grange Apple in 1802, 

 a cross between the golden and the orange pippin. George 



^ The Fruit, Flower, and Kitchen Garden, by Patrick Ncill, 1840. 

 ^ Pomariiim Britannicum, 1820 ; History of Cultivated Vegetables, 1822 ; 

 Sylva Florifera, 1823 ; Flora Historica, 1824, etc. All by licnry Phillips. 



