G92 



THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE. 



[December 15, 1888. 



ever, supplies us with references to some of 

 the original accounts relating to the gardens which 

 still exist in the Record Office and elsewhere, and 

 it is by the aid of these that it is proposed, in the 

 following paper, to give, in a detailed form, a 

 history of the palace gardens. 



We naturally go back to the time of Wolsey 

 in recalling the original wealth and splendour 

 of the gardens, but we find them noticed at a 

 very much earlier period. In the report of the 

 Trior of the Knights Hospitallers in England 

 to the Grand Master, in the year 1338, there is 

 mentioned as belonging to the order a " camera" 

 or mansion-house, " gardens and a dove-cot " at 

 Hampton. This mansion-house, Mr. Law has 

 shown, with great probability, stood on the site 

 of Wolsey's palace. We hear little further of 

 the gardens until the commencement of the six- 

 teenth century, when we read of the house being 

 still inhabited by the order, that it had gardens, 

 and that it was occasionally visited by members 

 of the royal family and high ecclesiastical 

 functionaries. One of the royal personages who 

 visited the mansion in the early years of the 

 sixteenth century was Elizabeth of York. She 

 came here, history tells us, "to recruit her 

 health," for the air of Hampton, her physicians 

 agreed, was the best air which could be procured 

 within an easy distance of London. On this 

 visit it is probable that she spent much of her 

 time in the gardens, and we may picture to our- 

 selves the Dowager Queen sitting with her maids 

 in the Rose and Honeysuckle-covered arbours 

 (these were common features in the gardens of 

 those days), or resting under the Pear and Apple 

 trees of the'orchard. 



In the year 1514 — the year in which Cardinal 

 Wolsey's tenancy began — the history of the 

 palace really commences. " Xo sooner," we are 

 told by Mr. Ernest Law, "did that famous 

 ecclesiastic enter into the possession of the place 

 than he began with characteristic energy to 

 plan the erection of a vast and sumptuous 

 edifice, and surround it with gardens and parks, 

 which were to be an appanage in every way 

 worthy of the princely residence he was project- 

 ing." The land which Wolsey bought for his 

 palace, gardens, and park consisted of some 

 2000 acres, and on this land, in the south-west 

 corner, was situated the old manor-house. Imme- 

 diately around the house he laid out the gardens 

 and orchards (which he separated by brick walls*), 

 and outside these, to the north-east, he laid out 

 his two great parks. The accounts of expenses 

 incurred for laying out these gardens, which 

 were rendered by Wolsey's head gardener to the 

 clerk of works, are still preserved in the Record 

 Office, but they throw very little light on the 

 plan of the gardens at that time. There are, 

 however, many curious entries for wages of the 

 gardeners employed and for implements used. 

 Some of these entries refer to the shovels, spades, 

 barrows, seeds, and even to the " plants " bought 

 " for the use of my lord's garthing." The head 

 gardener employed was John Chapman — one of 

 the most celebrated gardeners of his time.f The 

 accounts, which were rendered fortnightly, are 

 all signed by him in a very clear hand. This 

 circumstance shows that the gardeners of that 

 time were taken from a superior class. The 

 expenses in 1515 averaged 80s. per fortnight, but 

 this amount was sometimes expanded by the 



* Chapter House Accounts, C. %, i . 721. 



t John Chapman was first employed by Wolsey as gardener 

 of his palace at Kingston. He was then (in 1515) removed to 

 Hampton Court, and very soon after was promoted to the posi- 

 tion of head gardener. When Henry VIII. took possession of the 

 palace he was again promoted— this time to the position of 

 the " kinge's head K ardener, M with a salary of 12H. a year. 

 He died about the year 1540. 



addition of women to the ordinary staff of 

 labourers, for weeding in the " old garden."* 



Although these accounts throw but little light on 

 the manner in which the gardens were laid out, we 

 gain a fair idea as to what they were like at this 

 period from the following lines in the metrical life 

 of Wolsey written by Cavendish : — 



" My galleries were fayre, both large and longe, 

 To walk in them when that it liked me best ; 

 My gardens sweet enclosed with walles strong, 

 Embanked with benches to sit and take my reste ; 

 The knottis so enknotted it cannot be expressed, 

 With arbours and alleys so pleasant and so dulce 

 The pestilent airs with flavours to repulse." 



Here we have a description of the style of garden- 

 ing in vogue in England in the opening years of the 

 sixteenth century — the "gardens secured by high walls 

 like those described by Chaucer in the Bomaunt of the 

 Rose; the grass banks some 3 feet high placed all 

 around the walls on which one might sit and rest ; 

 the " knottis " or beds in which plants were laid out 

 in different patterns, somewhat like those in our 

 modern so-called carpet-beds ; the arbourst or 

 little summer-houses, and the alleys made of 

 trellis - work over which twined or crept the 

 Vine, Rose, and Honeysuckle, and above all, 

 the sweet-scented flowers, which must have made 

 the gardens of that time and of Elizabeth so de- 

 lightful. In such a garden, we are informed by his 

 biographer, Cavendish, Wolsey used to walk towards 

 evening, " and read his evensong and other divine 

 service with his chaplain." This old garden of 

 Wolsey was situated to the south of the base-court 

 and probably covered the plot of ground now 

 known as the Pond Garden. An orchard is also 

 mentioned in Wolsey's accounts. This was probably 

 situated on the plot of ground afterwards known as 

 the " Ould Orchard," now known as the Wilderness. 



Not many years passed before Cardinal Wolsey was 

 banished by Henry VIII. to Esher, and he had to 

 give up the palace and gardens to the king. This 

 was in 1529, and immediately the king gave orders 

 " for enlarging and improving the palace and its sur- 

 roundings." It was not, however, till 1530 that any 

 large alterations were made in the gardens. In the 

 early part of that year a large number of labourers 

 were employed for " bringing the earth and manure " 

 to the Privy Orehard.J A number of orchard trees 

 were then planted, and under|them]were set " sixteen 

 bushels of Strawberry roots."§ In planting-out the 

 trees little spaces appear to have been left here and 

 there, which were freely open to the sun. In the 

 centre of each of these open spaces was fixed a 

 " brasyn sundial " and seven of these are entered in 

 the accounts as having been bought for this purpose 

 of a "clockmaker of Westmynster."|| 

 (To be continued.) 



New or Noteworthy Plants. 



PINUS LARICIO. 



So much has been said in these columns of late 

 years respecting the Corsicau Pine and its near allies 

 (see especially Dec. 15, 1883, Jan. 5, and Feb. 16, 1884), 

 that it is unnecessary now to do more than refer the 

 reader to them. In the course of these articles men- 

 tion was made of the fine tree near the Kew Green 

 entrance gateway to the Royal Gardens at Kew. 

 The tree, of which we now give an illustration 

 (fig. 97), forms a conspicuous object from a distance, 

 though, unfortunately, its leader has been destroyed. 

 According to a statement of the late veteran Curator, 

 John Smith (primus), in the Garden, the tree in 

 question was brought from the South of Europe and 

 planted, in 1814, by Mr. E. A. Salisbury, a noted 

 botanist of his time. In 1825 the tree was 20 feet 

 high, and in 1885 it had attained a height of 88 feet, 

 and was 12 feet in girth at the base. A cone and a 

 shoot are shown on p. 705. The present height of the 

 tree is 91 feet ; spread of branches, 60 feet ; and stem 

 girth at 4 feet from the ground, 9 feet. 



» Chapter House Accounts, C. J, f. 695, 811, &c. This men- 

 tion of the " old garden " shows that Wolsey did not entirely 

 alter the surroundings of the old manor-house. 



t In the accounts preserved in the Record Office (c. *), is the 

 following item relating to the arbour of Wolsey: '•for twig- 

 gers to bind the arbour, rid." 



I Chapter House Accounts, C. 5 f . 422. 



i Ibid, i. 423. J Ibid, f. 401. 



CATASETUM GARNETTIANUM, Bolfe, n. sp. 

 This little gem of a Catasetum is now flowering in the 

 Kew collection, the whole plant being under 6 inches 

 high, and its wants seem to be amply provided for 

 within the limits of a shallow pan of about 3 inches 

 diameter, in which it is suspended. It waspiesented 

 in February of the present year by P. F. Garnett, 

 Esq., of Aigburth, near Liverpool, with the informa- 

 tion that it was collected in some locality in the 

 vicinity of the Kiver Amazon. It is allied to C. 

 barbatum, Lindl., and in general aspect is much like 

 a miniature edition of this plant. The pseudobulbs 

 in the imported plants were conical, 2 inches long, 

 and with five black rings ; but in the two growths since 

 made they are compressed-oiate, 1 inch long by 

 half an inch broad, and bearing three leaves. It 

 may, however, be noted, that while the new pseudo- 

 bulbs are not fully developed, they are strong enough 

 for each to throw up a raceme almost as strong as 

 one sent from the wild habitat. The leaves are 

 lanceolate, 4 inches long by 6 to 8 lines broad, 

 acute, and a little undulate. The erect peduncle 

 equals the leaves, and has four sheathing bracts 

 below the flowers, while the flowering bracts are 

 ovate; one raceme bears seven flowers, the other 

 four, while the wild raceme appears to have had 

 nine ; the pedicels three-quarters of an inch long, the 

 diameter of the flower, from the tip of the upper 

 sepal, If inch, and the colour very light green, 

 heavily blotched with dark chocolate-brown, the 

 blotches somewhat transversely arranged, and the 

 lip white. Sepals lanceolate-linear, acute, 10 lines 

 long, concave. Petals similar, but slightly convex, 

 and a little reflexed. These are subparallel with the 

 upper sepal, as in C. callosum, while the lateral 

 sepals make an angle of about 90° with each other. 

 Lip three-quarters of an inch long, linear, from a 

 somewhat broader base, the apex divided into about 

 seven somewhat diverging bristles, a similar number 

 of shorter ones on either side near the base, and 

 some half-dozen others on the margin below the 

 middle. A blunt conical spur is situate near the 

 middle, and a strong curved horn a quarter of an 

 inch high on basal angle. Under side of lip faint 

 green, with a few reddish-purple spots ; column light 

 green, antenna; slender, subparallel. It is a singular 

 and very elegant little plant, B. A, Bolfe, 



Tbichosma suavis, Lindl, 

 This name being accepted and well known in the 

 gardening world I retain it, though the plant has no 

 genuine marks of distinction from Eria, as Dr. 

 Griffith, myself, and finally Dr. Lindley stated (see 

 contributions to Indian Orchidology, ii. Eria, § VI.). 

 The dark brown lines on the white ground of the 

 lip remind one of Ccelogyne, though a side view of 

 the flower shows the most distinct Eria or Maxillaria 

 shape. Dr. Lindley himself at first called it a 

 Ccelogyne, and proposed his genus Trichosma later, 

 cancelling the original name himself, in accordance 

 with my opinions. 



I have now at hand a little wonder of beauty, a 

 trilabellia, as I call it, a tripetalia would likewise 

 deserve the name of peloria. If the word peloria 

 be used one does not know which of the two, sepals 

 or petals, is intended. The three petals have the same 

 colour and the keels of the lip, but there is the single 

 mark of distinction that they are not trifid, but entire. 

 I have to thank for this most agreeable surprise 

 our enthusiastic orchidist, Mr. Fred. Tautz, Gold- 

 hawk Road, London, whose collection is so rich in 

 rare and well-grown Orchids. H. G. Bchb.f. 



CyPEIPEDIUM INSIGNE (Wall.) Sanderje 

 (Hort. Sand.) 

 Baron von Schroder had the kindness to send 

 me this surprisingly beautiful novelty, which was 

 imported with other varieties by Mr. F. Sander, and 

 dedicated by him to Mrs. Sander, a great lover of 

 Orchids. It is very beautiful ; the odd sepal has the 

 upper part white, the white colour descending on 



