vi INTRODUCTION. 



little does horticulture seem to have advanced prior to 

 that period, that Queen Catherine was obliged to pro- 

 cure her salads from Holland : and, according to Fuller, 

 green peas were seldom seen except from that country. 

 " These," says he, " were dainties for ladies, they came so 

 far and cost so dear." 



This politic Queen seems to have constantly patronized 

 horticulture. Turner dedicated his Herbal to her in the 

 first year of her reign, which is the earliest English work 

 we possess on plants. She invited Tusser to her Court, 

 who published the " Five hundred Points of good Hus- 

 bandry" But he, preferring his fields to a palace, re- 

 mained in retirement at his farm in Essex. It was in this 

 reign, also, that Leonard Mascall, or Maschal, printed 

 his " New Art of Planting and Grafting." This author 

 first introduced the pippin apple to our country. 



In 1574, Thomas Hyll published " Art of Gardening." 

 In 1597, John Gerrard, a surgeon in Holborn, sent out 

 his History of Plants, a folio work of 1392 pages. The 

 same year, William Lawson printed " A New Orchard 

 and Garden." 



In 1600, Sir Hugh Platt published " Paradise of 

 Flora ;" also, " Dyvers Snyles for manuring." In the 

 following year Dr. Holland produced his Translation of 

 the Works of C. Plinius Secundus. 



Since this, there has been kept up a continued search 

 for every kind of tree, shrub, and herb, that could either 

 please the eye, gratify the taste, or contribute to the stores 

 of medicine ; the hottest and the coldest climates have 

 been explored : and those plants that, for want of a 

 warmer sun, would not flourish naturally in this country, 

 have had an artificial clime and temperature furnished to 

 them. The Agricultural Society has succeeded in im- 

 proving our farms, the very meadows of which are clothed 

 anew : this produces the grass of the Italian fields, and 



