342 



more agreeable acid than the medlar. Chan- 

 cellor Bacon speaks of service-berries in his 

 time as a garden fruit. In Italy and the 

 south of France, they are still served up in 

 the dessert. 



I conclude, that the great size of the 

 service-tree has been the cause of excluding 

 this fruit from our gardens : but it is, from 

 it's beauty, particularly when in blossom, a 

 desirable tree for planting in parks or pad- 

 docks ; and as the timber is so valuable, and 

 now become so rare, I hope to see it more 

 cultivated. There is a remarkable fine tree of 

 this kind now growing at Kingsfold farm, in 

 the parish of Rusper, near Horsham in Sussex. 



I know many noblemen and gentlemen 

 object to fruit-bearing trees being planted on 

 their estates, on the principle that it encou- 

 rages depredators to injure their plantations ; 

 but this seems but a poor excuse for depriving 

 themselves and the public of the beauty and 

 variety which the blossoms give at one season 

 of the year, and the fruit at another, particu- 

 larly to those who have park-keepers or 

 bailiffs on the premises. 



Furber of Kensington, who in 1733 pub- 

 lished his twelve engravings of fruits for the 

 desserts of each month, gives a representation 



