738 



THE GABDENEBS' GHB0N1GLE. 



[December 2'2, 1888. 



a little pavilion of trellis-work, over-roofed with 

 planks, and around this trellis-work were trained 

 plants of Honeysuckle and Thorn. At the top of 

 the pavilion was fixed " a great vayne with a crown." 

 It was reached from the King's New Garden by a 

 winding path set on either side with Quicksets. Six 

 loads of these, containing in all about 24,400 plants, 

 two loads of Ash poles " for the Quicksets in the 

 Mount in the King's New Garden," and "two bundles 

 of rods to bind the same," were bought for this 

 purpose. At fixed distances about this winding path 

 were placed more " Kinge's and Queene's beasts." 

 These appear to have been different from the ones 

 in the King's New Garden, for they were made of 

 freestone and not of wood. They comprised in all 

 " two lyons, two dragons, two greyhounds, a lybert, 

 a gryffyth, and sixteen badgers." From the accounts 

 we also learn that a "border of Rosemary three years 

 old," and three Pear trees, were bought for " setting 

 about the Mount in the Kinge's New Garden." There 

 is also an entry for " Quicksetts for the triangle at the 

 Mount." 



Another of the plots laid out by Henry VIII., was 

 that known as the Pond Garden. There is no mention 

 in the accounts of any plants having been bought for 

 this garden, but we learn that around the ponds were 

 placed the inevitable " Kinge's and Queene's beastes." 

 The : entry which refers to these "beastes" runs thus: — 



" Paid to Harry Corrant of Kingstone, carver, for 

 making and entayling thirty-eight of the Kinge's and 

 queene's beastes in freestone, bearing shields with the 

 Kinge's arms and the Queene's, that is to say, four 

 dragons, six tigers, five greyhounds, five harts, four 

 badgers, serving to stand aboutthe ponds in the pond 

 yard at twenty-six shillings the pece, xlix li. viii.s." 



These beasts were not placed upon wooden posts 

 like those in the King's New Garden, but stood upon 

 freestone bases and were painted in oils. Among 

 the same accounts are also charges for "labourers 

 ladyng of water out of ye Temmes, to fyll the pondes 

 in the nyght tymes." Although the king's and queen's 

 beasts have been removed, a portion of this garden 

 has undergone very little change since Tudor times. 

 It includes several little gardens separated from each 

 other by low walls. At the southern end, in the 

 centre of the wall, is a little arbour made of trellis- 

 work, whilst around the walls are banks and shady 

 nooks, such as were in vogue in Tudor times. In 

 the centre is a sunken parterre, with a beautiful little 

 fountain, " perhaps," says Mr. Law, " a ' survival ' of 

 one of the original ponds." Indeed, this garden 

 retains more of the old-fashioned spirit than almost 

 any other in England. 



The fourth plot of ground was converted into the 

 " little garden," but the accounts do not give us any 

 idea as to the manner in which it was laid out. All 

 that they tell us about this garden is, that " lxvii. 

 Apple trees " were bought to be planted in it, " of a 

 gardener of S. Jones Street, London, at vid. the 

 pece."* 



About the same year (1533) in which all these 

 alterations were made, the " Great Orchard " was 

 planted. In 1534 large additions were made to this 

 orchard, and a number of trees were planted. From 

 the Chapter House Accounts we learn that "200 

 yong trees of Oak and Elm, five score to every 

 hundred ; " " 600 Cherry trees, at 6d. the hundred ; " 

 " five Service trees, at I4.d. the pece ; " " four 

 Holly trees, at 3d. the pece ; " and a number 

 (not specified) of Apple and Pear trees, " at Gd. the 

 pece," were bought and planted in this orchard. 

 Thirty-four bushels of " Strawberry, Prymrose, and 

 Violet roots, at 3d. the bushell," were also bought, 

 and were planted beneath the trees. 



After the death of Henry VIII. we hear nothing 

 further of the gardens until the year 1561, and even 

 then only a side light is thrown on them. When 

 Sir William Cecill was laying out the garden at 

 Burleigh House, he wrote to Armigall Wood, asking 

 for his advice as to what plants he should plant in 

 the garden, and where he should obtain them. In 

 the reply ,t dated March 7, 1561, Wood tells Cecill 



* Chapter House Accounts, C. £, f. 41. 

 t State Papers (Domestic), vol. xvi., No. 28. 



that the gardener at Greenwich will provide him 

 " with all that he can of Lavender, Spike, Hyssop, 

 Thyme, Rosemary, and Sage," but that if more is 

 necessary, to send to] Hampton Court or Richmond. 

 We thus see that the Hampton Court gardens were, 

 in the middle [of the sixteenth century, one of the 

 principal nurseries, as it were, for collecting plants, 

 and that it was from these gardens that plants were 

 distributed to other parts of the kindom. Five years' 

 after the above letter was written, some alterations 

 were carried out in the gardens under the direc- 

 tion of Sir William Cecill ; but what those 

 alterations were, or how far they extended, we do 

 not know.* 



In 1583 extensive alterations were made in the 

 gardens. The King's New Garden appears to have 

 been entirely relaid, and its name was altered into 

 the "Privy Garden. " the name which it still retains. 

 In the spring of this year (1583) Elizabeth sent over 

 to Francejfor a French gardener named JohnMarkye, 

 " to repair the old gardens, and to relay plots there." 

 The accounts and expenses incurred by this gardener 

 are still preserved among the declared accounts t in 

 the Audit Office, and in them are some interesting 

 entries. They are headed after the usual endorse- 

 ment " for flowers, herbs, plants, trees, earths, and 

 sundry other monies paid for the entertainment, &c, 

 of the French gardener, Rowland, his servant, and 

 for sundry other gardeners and for sundry other 

 things." Implements for carrying out the works 

 were the first things bought. Watering-pots, 

 brooms, shears, baskets, pails " to water the garden," 

 and "ladders for the Frenchman and his man to 

 work upon the hedges," are all entered on the first 

 folio of these accounts. Several experienced gar- 

 deners and a great number of labourers were then 

 engaged for " digging," " manuring " (twenty-two 

 loads of horsedung were used in the spring of 1583), 

 and for " bringing 120 loads of new earth into the 

 gardens for making new beds." These " new beds " 

 were planted with " slippes of Box " in geometrical 

 figures, or in " figures like lace patterns " — a style of 

 gardening which appears to have been about this 

 time introduced from France. A large quantity of 

 plants were also bought for the Privy Garden, and 

 on the accounts are entered " double Prymroses and 

 Daysie8 bought by agreement," "Lavender slippes 

 and Daysies, and sundry slippes for borders, 

 viiis. vid.," and "two bushels of Strawberry roots." 

 Besides these plants seeds were also bought, as 

 appears from the following entries in the accounts : — 



" Garden seeds of divers sorts bought at divers 

 times, iis." 



" Sundry sorts of herbes seedes provided for the 

 furnishing of the garden, as appeareth by a book 

 superscribed by the hand of the said Rowland, par- 

 ticularly mentioning their several natures with the 

 town's names were they were bought, cs. jd." 



Several other alterations were made in the other 

 gardens in 1584 by the same French gardener. A 

 " Box hedge xiii. yards in length," and eight Box trees 

 were planted in the Mount, besides some " xv. lodes 

 of Holly trees with their rootes taken out of the 

 earth, at xiid. the lode." In the orchard a quantity 

 of trees was also planted ; " clxxvii trees bought by 

 agreement ; " " one Bay tree and one Muster (?) tree 

 at xvfZ. the pece," " xxxiv Bay trees at xiid. the 

 pece," and a quantity of Beech and Juniper trees are 

 entered in the accounts as having been bought for 

 this purpose. The salary of the French gardener, or 

 rather the money paid for his "entertainment," was 

 iii.s. the day. Robert Comte, " the French gardener's 

 man," received " is. vid." and " John, the French 

 gardener's servant, xiid. the day. Oue other entry in 

 these accounts is worth noting. It runs thus : — 

 " For the French gardener, his servant, and Koger 

 Overton rydynge to Kew, Rychmond, and Mortlake, 

 and divers other places to view the gardens there for 

 herbes and flowers." In all, the expenses during 

 1583 and 1584 for " maintaining, repairing, and alter- 

 ing the gardens," were 843ft. 7s. 5d. 

 (To be continued.) 



* See State Papers (Domestic), vol. xxxix., No. 64. 

 t Works of BuildiDgs, Bdle. 2481, No. 64. 



A POPULAR PEAR. 



I had recently an opportunity of turning over the 

 solid quarto volumes forming the first series of the 

 Transactions of the Horticultural Society of London 

 (1816). In vol. ii., p. 250, is a descriptive account, 

 accompanied by a hand-coloured engraving, of the 

 Williams' Bon Chretien Pear, which, under its 

 American name of the Bartlett, is a well-known and 

 popular fruit in nearly all good fruit gardens of the 

 United States. The specimens figured by Mr. Wil- 

 liam Hooker, F.H.S., a well-known horticultural 

 artist of the time, were laid before the Horticultural 

 Society in August, 1815, by Mr. Richard Williams, 

 a nurseryman of Turnham Green, at that time a 

 quiet little village quite near to the Horticultural 

 Society's Chiswick garden, and only 3 or 4 miles 

 from London. 



Mr. Hooker, in his account of what he then calls 

 " a new Pear," says :— 



" This Pear, which has been called by Mr. Aiton 

 (in his Epitome of the Hortus Kewensis, 1814), 

 Williams' Bon Chretien, appears to have sprung from 

 seed in the garden of Mr. Wheeler, a schoolmaster 

 at Aldermaston, in Berkshire, about twenty years 

 ago [i.e., about the year 1794, and was suffered to 

 remain in order to prove the value of its fruit. Sub- 

 sequently grafts have been dispersed, and many trees 

 are now in Sir. Williams' nursery and other gardens 

 round London. I have added the following descrip- 

 tion : — The trees of this variety are of vigorous 

 growth and fertile habit ; their branches remarkably 

 erect and straight, until bent by the weight of fruit. 

 Leaves broad, deep green, very sharply serrated. 

 Fruit of an irregular pyramidal and somewhat 

 truncated form ; large, being from 3 to 4J- inches 

 in length and 2 to 3 inches in width in the widest 

 part near the head. The eye is inserted on the 

 summit, and never suuk in a hollow cavity, as in the 

 other varieties called Bon Chretiens. The stalk is 

 very gross and fleshy, about three-quarters of an inch 

 in length. The colour of the fruit is pale green, 

 spotted over with a mixture of darker green and 

 russet-brown, becoming yellowish, and faintly tinged 

 with red on the side next the sun when fully 

 ripe. The flesh is whitish, very tender and deli- 

 cate, abounding with juice, which is sweet and 

 agreeably perfumed. Ripens in August when trained 

 to a west wall, but on standard trees it is from three 

 weeks to a month later. This Pear I would recom- 

 mend to the notice of the Horticultural Society as 

 superior to any of its season with which I am 

 acquainted. It immediately succeeds the Jargonelle, 

 and is earlier than, and much superior to the Doy- 

 enne, or white Beurre, and resembles in flavour the 

 Summer Musked Bon Chretien. Its merits over the 

 latter variety are that on standard trees as well as 

 when trained, it seldom fails to produce fruit in 

 abundance. The drawing which accompanies this 

 was taken from specimens which ripened on a west 

 wall, and may be considered of an average size ; but 

 I have seen fruit of this variety weighing from ten to 

 twelve ounces." 



So much for its English history ; and on turning 

 to Downing's Fruits and Fruit Trees of America, 

 p. 421, we find its history in America pretty clearly 

 given. 



" This noble Pear," says Downing, " is justly one of 

 the most popular of all the summer varieties. Its 

 size, beauty, and excellence, entitle it to this estima- 

 tion, apart from the fact that it bears very early, 

 regularly, and abundantly. It is an English variety' 

 originated about 1770 in Berkshire, and was after- 

 wards propagated by a London grower of the name of 

 Williams. When first introduced to this country 

 (1799) its name was lost, and having been cultivated 

 and disseminated by Enoch Bartlett, Esq., of Dor- 

 chester, near Boston, it became so universally known 

 as ' Bartlett Pear ' that it is impossible to dispossess 

 it now. The first imported tree in Mr. Bartlett's 

 grounds was sent from England in 1799. It suits 

 our climate most admirably, ripening better here 

 than in England, and has the unusual property of 

 maturing perfectly in the house, even if it is picked 

 before it is fully grown. It has no competitor as a 

 market fruit." 



The italics in Mr. Downing's account of this, the 

 summer Pear of England and America, as well as of 

 France and the Channel Islands, are my own, since 



