162 A HISTORY OF GARDENING IN ENGLAND 



be propagated, as for grafting none take that way, and but few 

 with inoculating, which I conceive is the reason it is dearest 

 of all plants with us." " The nutmeg and the Newington the 

 best peaches ; very large and gallant fruit." " I know of but 

 one kind of Figs that come to ripeness with us : the great 

 Blew-fig, as large as a Catherine Pear. The trees grow in 

 divers gardens in Oxford, set against a south wall, and be 

 spread up with nayles and Leathers." Parkinson agreed with 

 Austen that this " blew-figge earely ripe," of a " dark purple 

 blackish colour, with an eye of blew as it were cast over them, 

 and blackish red throughout," was the best, and says that even 

 against a wall the fruit would not ripen until August, " and 

 then will be so mellow and soft and moist that they will fall 

 about their fingers that handle them." He describes also three 

 other kinds, the " wilde Figge," with small, hard fruit, which 

 never came to any good ; " the Ordinary Figge," of which he 

 had seen trees " great almost and as much spread as an apple- 

 tree," which bore fruit " white and of a reasonable bignesse " ; 

 and a dwarf blue fig, which was planted in boxes and moved 

 " in stoves for the winter-time, and set abroad in summer like 

 our Orenge trees." 1 



The ruthless hand of man has done more to destroy the old 

 gardens of England than the changes of time and seasons. 

 But some vestiges of the gardens of each period still remain. 

 Although no " princely " gardens were being laid out during the 

 middle of the seventeenth century, like those of its latter end, 

 many an old manor-house garden may date from about this 

 time. This is not a history of " Gardens," so it is impossible 

 to give anything like a complete list of the beautiful old gardens 

 that are still to be found throughout the length and breadth 

 of England. I must content myself by mentioning a few 

 typical examples, to serve as illustrations of the fashions and 

 plans of each successive century. 2 The garden of Chilham 

 Castle, in Kent, with its terraces, bowling-green, and clipped 



1 Theatrum Botanicum, 1640. 



2 Since these lines were first penned fifteen years ago, several publica- 

 tions, particularly Country Life (begun in 1897), nave come into exist- 

 ence. By reference to these periodicals, or works such as Gardens Old 

 and -New, collected from them, it is now an easy matter to pick out 

 countless examples of each type of garden. 



