24 Gleanings in Old Garden Literature. 



at American and West Indian ports, and in 

 certain cases remained there for some time, 

 brought back plants and seeds previously un- 

 known, and laid the foundation of that 

 passionate taste for the pursuit, which 

 gradually converted the suburbs of London 

 into a girdle of nurseries and market- 

 grounds. 



There is one point in which the evidence 

 of Harrison is to be received with allow- 

 ance, and that is, where he begs us to believe 

 that in very remote days the English raised 

 plenty of wine, but afterwards, as in other 

 matters, lost the art. Now, it is out of the 

 question to suppose that at any epoch our 

 climate permitted the free cultivation of the 

 vine in sufficient measure to yield a vintage ; 

 Orazio Busino, to whom I shall return 

 presently, manifestly entertained a very in- 

 different opinion of the grapes reared at such 

 a place as Burleigh, when he visited it in 

 1617-18; there was not sufficient sun to 

 ripen the fruit in the open air ; and artificial 

 mediums had scarcely come into existence, 

 for Evelyn, on his visit to the Physic Gardens 



