1 20 Gleanmgs in Old Garden Literature. 



Alleyn's foundation dinner at Dulwich, 

 September 13th, 1619, two cauliflowers are 

 charged 3^. (about QS. perhaps according to 

 the present value of money), thirty lettuces 

 4^/., sixteen artichokes $s. 4^., while carrots, 

 turnips, rosemary, and bays are estimated 

 only at ^d. altogether. 



It is well known that the POTATO was 

 introduced into England in the reign of 

 Elizabeth, and Gerarde the Herbalist, who 

 had some in his garden in Holborn, figures 

 a specimen in his book printed in 1597. 

 He informs us that he had received one 

 from Virginia ; but we are left under the 

 necessity of conjecturing whether he was 

 indebted for the present to the hands of 

 Sir Walter himself, and whether it is the 

 very one engraved. Both he and Dr. 

 Venner of Bath considered the potato con- 

 ducive to flatulency, like the Jerusalem arti- 

 choke. 



A recipe for a tart which occurs in Dawson's 

 Good Housewife's Jewel (i 596) treats a potato 

 as a leading ingredient, a testimony to the 

 rate at which the vegetable was then prized, 



