177 



HORTICULTURE. 



I. BY the term HoBTicrtTfRE, is to be understood the 

 whole management of a garden, whether intended for 

 the production of fruit, of culinary vegetables, or of 

 flowers. The formation of a garden may be included 

 also, to a certain extent, under this subject : draining, 

 inclosing, and the forming of screen plantations and 

 hedges, may be considered as parts of horticulture; 

 while the general situation of the fruit and the flower 

 gardens in regard to the mansion-house, and the posi- 

 tion of some of their principal component parts, as 

 shrubberies, hot-bouses, parterres, and walks, belong 

 more properly to LADscArt-GrirwW ; which see. 



It is evident, that the horticulture of every country 

 nui-t vary in its nature and objects according to the 

 climate. The great end of this article will be, to ex- 

 hibit as correctly as possible the present state of gar- 

 dening in Britain, noticing particularly the improve- 

 ments which have recently been introduced, especial- 

 ly since the close of the 18th century. After a gene- 

 ral prefatory account of the rise and progress of hor- 

 ticulture in this country, we purpose to give a short 

 view of the different kinds of gardens now existing ; 

 and then to treat of seme general matters, each as 

 situation, soil, manures, enclosure-walls, &c. After 

 this, the fruit garden will be particularly attended 

 to ; the various kinds of fruit-bearing plants will be 



and here the different kinds of forcing-houses will claim 

 attention. The kkchni garden will fall next to be dis- 

 onnrt, in the seme mmsrte way. After which, the 

 flower garden will be considered; but here abridg- 

 ment must be studied ; for to .peak of a// the ornamen- 

 tal plant* cultivated, would be an endless task : the de- 

 licacies of Flora will not, however, be neglected, and the 

 sorts called " florists flowers" will be enlarged upon. 

 A few remarks on the diseases of plants, and on their 

 prevention or cure, will conclude the whole. 



Without detaining the reader wkh trite remarks on 

 the antiquity of gardening, er dtecusatons on 

 the celebrated groves of the Hrsperides, the 



shall at on<x proceed to give SOCM short account of the 

 rise and progress of modern horticulture. In doing this, 

 it will be necessary to confine our attention almost exclu- 

 sively to our own country. To discourse of the progress 

 of the art in other countries, would not only swell this part 

 of the article to an improper sue. but would be an unpro- 

 fitable undertaking. Nothing can be more evident than 

 the fact already hinted at, that the practice of garden- 

 ing in one country cannot be applied to any other, un- 

 less that other greatly resemble the former in climate. 

 Useful hints may no doubt be occasionally drawn, from 

 observing the modes in other countries. But it U scarce- 

 ly necessary to remark, that in warm climates the prac- 

 tice must onVr very wWely from that which obtains in 

 the temperate or the cold. In the former, the plants 

 which require to be fosUrid in our stoves, either grow 

 spontaneously, or arc cultivated in the open fields ; while 

 the greater part of our common pot-herbs refuse to flou- 

 rish in sultry regions. Again, the far northern coun- 

 tries of Europe, Sweden, Norway, and Russia, posstss 

 of climate : snow covers the soil through- 



" 



out the winter, and the summers are uninterruptedly Uisktry. 

 bright and warm. Even in Britain, such is the differ- > "Y-~ 

 ence of climate between the favoured counties of the 

 south-west of England, and that part of the island 

 which lies to the north of the Cheviot Hills, that the 

 same rules cannot be applied to both, without very con- 

 siderable modification. The horticulture of the north 

 of France, of Belgium, Holland, and Denmark, may in 

 general be considered as approaching to that of South 

 Britain ; and these countries may frequently afford mu- 

 tual lessons to each other, cacti availing itself of the 

 other's discoveries, and adopting its improvements. 



2. The origin of British horticulture is completely B ^^ n<1 

 involved in obscurity. It may in general be asserted, 

 that most of our best fruits, particularly apples and 

 pears, were brought into the island by ecclesiastic* in 

 the days of monastic splendour and luxury, during the 

 12th, 13th, 14th, and 15th centuries. Gardens and or- 

 chards ("ortiet pomaria") are frequently mentioned 

 in the earliest chartulariea extant ; and of the orchards 

 many traces still remain, in different parts of the coun- 

 try, in the form not only of enclosure-walls and prepa- 

 red fruit-tree-borders, but of venerable pear-trees, some 

 of them still abundantly fruitful, and others in the last 

 stage of decay. Of the state of horticulture previous to 

 the beg kming of the 16th century, however, no distinct 

 record exists. Till then, it is generally said, that some 

 of our most ""TT M r" pot-herbs, such as cabbages, were 

 chiefly imported from the Netherlands, their culture not 

 being properly understood in this country ; but of this, 

 then no distinct evidence, and the thing seems un- 

 likely. From the " Itinerary" of Leland it appears, 

 that even greenhouses were not then unknown in I'.ng- 

 land. 



S. During the reign of Henry VIII. rapid steps of 

 improvement were made in horticulture. According to 

 some authors, apricots and musk-melons were introdu- 

 ced by that monarch's gardener ; and different kinds of 

 salad herbs and esculent roots were, about the same 

 time, first brought into the country from Flanders. 

 Henry had a fine garden at his favourite palace of 

 Nonsuch, in the pariah of Cbeam in Surrey. il.-- 

 were first cultivated in England, 

 wall was fourteen feet high ; the wil- 

 ten acres ; " lelackc trees which beare 

 no fruite. but only a plcsauntc flow re," are men- 

 tioned among the rarities contained in it ; as are also 



d lime Unas. In the year 15.S t, Fitzherbcrt, the riuhcrbat. 



1 hi- 



Cm* 



of horticultural writers, published his " Bookc of 



4. Queen Elizabeth was both a horticulturist and 

 florist, if we may believe a poet celebrating majesty : 



Cutl*r Str6nnm, mrmer atfitjlam. f 



During her reign, Dydimus Mountain published the Mountain. 

 Oardener's Labyrinth ;" Hyll, the " Profitable Arte njl , 

 of Gardening ;" and Leonard Mascall, (the introducer of M 

 several good pippins,) the " Arte and Manner how to ' 

 plant and grafle all sorts of trees," &c. : While Bornabe 

 Googe, Esq. translated the " Foure Bookes of Huiban- 

 drie of Conradus Heresbachius." All of these works 

 are printed in black letter, and have become extremely 



correctly, to ligtiify ih tlrrm in (cnenl. 

 t ^nUihgto. voL vti. 

 VOL. XI. PART J. 



rr|uenHy underttaMI ooljr aromatic plants u*cd fgr ststwuogii c UK it, 



