Book I. 



GARDENING IN THE BRITISH ISLES. 



91 



This work incurred the censure of the practical authors of the day .; but founded on 

 correct mathematical principles, it attracted the attention of the learned, and of some 

 noblemen. Among the latter was the Duke of Rutland, and the failure of the Irial of 

 one of these walls, led to the earliest example which we have been able to discover of forc- 

 ing grapes in England. This, Lav/rence and Switzer agree, was successfully accom- 

 plished at Belvoir Castle, in 1705. Switzer published the first plans of forcing-houses, 

 with directions for forcing generally, in his I^ruit Gardener, in 1717. 



411. The nineteenth century has commenced by extraordinary efforts in horticulture. 

 The culture of exotic fruits and forcing has been greatly extended, and while in the 

 middle of the eighteenth century scarcely a forcing-house was met with, excepting near 

 the metropolis ; there is now hardly a garden in the most remote county, or a citizen's 

 potagery, without one or more of them. The public markets, especially those of the 

 metropolis, are amply supplied witli forced productions, and far better pines, grapes, and 

 melons are grown in Britain tlian in any other part of the world. 



412. The London Horticultural /Soae^y, . established in 1805, has made astonishing 

 exertions in procuring and disseminating fruits, culinary vegetables, and horticultural 

 knowledge, and has succeeded in rendering the subject popular among the higher classes, 

 and in stimulating to poAverful exertion the commercial and serving gardeners. A great 

 and lasting benefit conferred on gai-dening by this society is the publicity and illustra- 

 tion which they have given by their transactions to the physiological discoveries of 

 Knight, who has unquestionably thrown more light on the nature of vegetation than 

 any other man, at least in this country. 



SuBSECT. 2. Gardening in Scotland, in respect to its horticultural Productions. 



413. The earliest Scottish horticulturists, ChaliTiers remarks, were the abbots; and their 

 orchards are still apparent to the eyes of antiquaries, while their gardens can now be 

 traced only in the chartularies. A number of examples of gardens and orchards are 

 mentioned in writings of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries : and even at this day, Mr. 

 Neill observes, " several excellent kinds of fruits, chiefly apples and pears, are to be 

 found existing in gardens, near old abbies and monasteries. That such fruits were 

 introduced by ecclesiastics cannot admit of a doubt. The Arbroath oslin, which seems 

 nearly allied to the burr knot apple of England, m.ay be taken as an instance ; that apple 

 having been long known all round the abbey of Aberbrothwick, in Forfarshire ; and 

 tradition uniformly ascribing its introduction to the monks. — The great care bestowed 

 on the culture of fruits, and of some culinary herbs, by the clergy and nobility, could 

 not fail to excite, in some degree, the curiosity and the attention of the inhabitants in 

 general ; and it may, perhaps, be said that the first impulse has scarcely spent its force ; 

 for it is thus but comparatively a short time (four or five centuries) since the cultivation 

 of apples, pears, cherries, gooseberries, and currants, and many of the common kitchen- 

 vegetables, were introduced into this country." (^On Scottish Gardens and Orchards in 

 Gen. Rep. of Scot. p. 3.) 



414. About the beginning of the eighteenth century, the best garden in Scotland was 

 that of J. Justice, at Crichton, near Edinburgh. From the year 1760 to 1785, that of 

 Moredun claimed the priority. Moredun garden was managed by William Kyle, author 

 of a y/ork on forcing peaches and vines ; and Dr. Duncan informs us, that the late Baron 

 Moncrieff, its proprietor, " used to boast, that from his own garden, within a few miles ©f 

 Edinburgh, he could, by the aid of glass, coals, and a good gardener, match any countiy 

 in Europe, in peaches, grapes, pines, and every other fine fruit, excepting apples and 

 pears ;" these he acknowledged were grov/n better in the open air in England, and the 

 north of France. {Discourse to Caled. Ilort. Soc. 1814.) It is observed, in another of 

 Dr. Duncan's discourses to this society, that in 1817, on the 10th of June, a bunch of 

 Hamburgh grapes was presented, weighing four pounds, the berries beautiful and large. 

 " In June, it is added, such grapes could not be obtained at any price, either in France, 

 Spain, or Italy." These facts are decisive proofs of the perfection to which horticulture 

 Jias attained in Scotland, in spite of many disadvantages of soil, climate, and pecuniary 

 circumstances. 



415. The Scotch authors on this department of gardening are not numerous. The 

 first v/as Reid in the beginning, and the best, Justice, about the middle of the eighteenth 

 century. In the nineteenth century, Nicol's works appeared, and a variety of other writers 

 in the memoirs of the Caledonian Horticultural Society. 



416. The nineteenth century promises greatly to increase the reputation of Scotland 

 for gardeners and gardening, not only from the general improvement in consequence of 

 the increase of wealth and refinement among the employers and patrons of the art but 

 from the stimulus of the Caledonian Horticultural Society, which, by well devised com- 

 petitory exhibitions and premiums, has excited a most laudable emulation among 

 practical gardeners of every class. 



