A HISTORY OF GARDENING IN ENGLAND 



It may be that some plants, such as the cherry, cabbage, 

 lettuce, leek, onion, radish, rose, and parsley, continued in this 

 country ; although many species which were in cultivation in 

 Britain, in Roman times, had to be reintroduced into England 

 at a later date, having been entirely lost during the years of 

 Teutonic invasion. On the Continent, the same state of things 

 followed the dissolution of the Roman Empire, and horticulture 

 only revived with the spread of Christianity and the establish- 

 ment of monasteries after a lapse of centuries. 



In this country the revival was due to the same cause, and 

 in the early years of England's history undoubtedly the monks 

 were better skilled in horticulture than any other class of the 

 community. The lines in which their lives were cast tended to 

 maintain this superiority. They were left quiet, and, to a great 

 extent, undisturbed by wars ; and when other property was 

 destroyed and plundered, that of the monks was respected. 

 Many of them were men of skill and intelligence, and they 

 were able to learn, not only from books, but from their inter- 

 course with the Continent, both what plants to grow and how 

 to grow them. 



The earliest records of gardens on the Continent (after 

 Roman times) date from the ninth century. In the list of 

 Manors of the Abbey of Saint Germain des Pres, Saint Armand 

 and Saint Remy, in the time of Karl the Great, mention is 

 made of various gardens. 1 At other places, as at Corbie, in 



1 Polyptyque de I' Abbe Irminon, ed. by M, B, Guerard, Paris, 1844. 



