274 



purpose of housing these trees: the most 

 magnificent one is that of Versailles, built by 

 Louis the XlVth. 



Oranges were known in this country in 

 the time of Henry the Vlllth, but I find 

 no account of the orange-tree being cultivat- 

 ed in England prior to Queen Elizabeth's 

 reign. The Seville orange-tree appears to 

 have been first planted the year before the 

 East India Company was incorporated, and 

 two years previous to the return of Sir 

 Francis Drake, our first circumnavigator. It 

 is said to have been introduced by Sir Francis 

 Carew, and first planted at his seat at Bed- 

 dington in Surrey. Chancellor Bacon, who 

 wrote about twenty years after this time, 

 mentions the housing of orange and lemon- 

 trees in this country to keep them in the 

 winter. He also states, that if the seeds 

 of oranges be/sown in April, they produce an 

 agreeable salad. 



Henrietta Maria, queen of Charles the 

 1st, had an orange-house and orange-garden 

 at her mansion, Wimbleton Hall, in the pa- 

 rish of Wimbleton, in the county of Surrey; 

 and by an estimate and survey which was 

 made in the month of November, l649 ? for 

 the sale of that property, by order of the 

 Parliament, we find how highly orange-trees 



