Biography. 



48' 



tree, or the trunk of it with a strong sucker from the root, is now alive, 

 (though very old,) at its native place, Wyken, near Coventry. It was there 

 the seed was planted by a Lord Craven, who brought it from a fruit he ate 

 on his travels from France to Holland, a sort of Golden Pippin. Its fine 

 flavour induced him to save the seed to plant in his own garden, and at this 

 time every garden near the place has at least from two to twelve trees of 

 this sort ; in short it is the only table fruit that is taken to the neighbouring 

 market towns. I am induced to give you this short history of it, in the 

 hope it will, in your Magazine, meet the eye of the lovers of good apples, 

 and, through that means, get more into general cultivation. Mr. Stowe 

 should recollect that it is no uncommon thing to see one tree in an 

 orchard very much loaded, and the others round it but very thin of fruit, 

 without any sort of covering whatever, and I think his plan more likely 

 to be of use to peaches and nectarines, than to apples, as they are much 

 sooner in blossom, and much more tender. 



Combe Garden, May 2. 1827. J. Oliver. 



The name was properly spelled in Mr. Stowe's letter, but on finding it with 

 an r in the Fruit Catalogue of the Horticultural Society, we concluded the 

 latter to be the right spelling. All such corrections are most desirable, and 

 when accompanied by historical traits, as in the present case, interesting. 

 (Cond.) 



Art. XV. Biography. 



John Thadescant (Jig. 132.), gardener to Charles I., and a contributor 

 to the study of natural history in 

 the 17th century, was,according to 

 Wood, a Dutchman. He is sup- 

 posed to have arrived in this 

 country about the time of Eliza- 

 beth, and to have been for a great 

 length of time in the service of the 

 Lords Salisbury and Wooton. He 

 travelled over a great part of Eu- 

 rope, and into the Eastern coun- 

 tries, chiefly with a view of im- 

 proving himself in natural science. 

 He was the first man in the king- 

 dom that distinguished himself as 

 a collector of natural and artificial 

 curiosities, and was followed b; 

 Lambeth, in the same pursuit. 



^iSr 



his son, also a physic gardener at 

 He, as Parkinson informs us, intro- 

 duced a considerable number of exotic plants into England, and made 

 it appear that, with due care and cultivation, almost any vegetable 

 of the known world may be made to thrive in this climate. This, and 

 more, may be learned from Dr. Ducarel's curious letter to Dr. Watson, 

 in vol. lxiii. of the Phil. Trans. His son took a voyage to Virginia, from 

 whence he returned with many new plants ; and both father and son intro- 

 duced several plants, one genus of which, Tradescantia, now bears their 

 name. Tradescant's Museum, at that time called Tradescant's Ark, attracted 

 the curiosity of the age, and may be considered as the parent of this 

 description of collections in Britain. (C. — Norwich.) 



11 4 



