158 Gleanings in Old Garden Literature. 



portrait of the author ; and it has been 

 translated into French. 



The willow is mentioned in the fourteenth 

 century treatise of Walter de Biblesworth ; 

 but it is not the willow of our meadows and 

 gardens, which was not introduced till a 

 much later period. It is, in fact, the common 

 withy. 



Among the additions to our stock of forest- 

 trees in Worlidge's time (1677) was the 

 Horse-Chestnut. 



" The tree," he narrates, "is very lately made 

 English, being brought in its seed or Nuts from Con- 

 stantinople ; it prospers very well here in good light 

 mold ; its buds all the winter, and until it springs, are 

 covered with a shining, glutinous matter or gum, and 

 about the beginning of May it usually makes its whole 

 year's shoot in eight or ten days." 



The sweet or true chestnut is of older 

 naturalisation here, and with the ash has 

 been long used, specially grown in coppices, 

 for hop-poles. The visitor to Cowdray Park, 

 near Midhurst, in Sussex, should note the 

 fine avenue of Spanish chestnuts. But this 

 variety is very common in all parts of England. 

 It is only one of many edible sorts. 



