2 



GREENHOUSES. 



Indies as early as the times of the Crusaders and under the Dukes of 

 Burgundy, and theu' gardens are said to have contained more exotic 

 plants than all the rest of Em*ope besides, until the civil and desolating 

 wars of the sixteenth centun' diverted men's minds from such peaceful 

 pursuits. 



About the middle of the sixteenth century, a taste for exotic flowering 

 plants began to prevail in Britain, for about this period the gardens of the 

 Duke of Somerset at Sion House, Edward St. Loo, in Somersetshire, 

 James Coel at Highgate, James Nasmyth, and of the celebrated GeiTard 

 were estabhshed; and Nicholas Lete, Sir Walter Raleigh, Lord Edward 

 Zouch, and Lord Hudson are all recorded as importers of new and rare 

 plants. 



Greenhouses and stoves were first erected in this country dming the 

 seventeenth centmy, and the Duke of Lauderdale, Sh Henry CajDpel, and 

 J^ady Clarendon are recorded by EvehTi as patrons of exotic gardening 

 during this period. 



During the early part of the eighteenth centurv*, the cultivation of 

 exotic plants was carried on with great spmt, upwards of five thousand 

 species being introduced fi'om foreign countries dm'ing the period, besides 

 the discovery of many indigenous species. The great patrons of the 

 art at this time, were Sir Hans Sloane, to whom we are also indebted 

 for the foundation of the British ^luseum, the Duke of Chandos, Compton, 

 Speaker of the House of Commons, Compton, Bishop of London, the 

 Duke of Ai'gyle, the Drs. Uvedale, Lloyd, Sherard, Fothergill and Pitcakn, 

 the gardeners in most repute being ]Miller, Fahchild, Lee, Gordon, 

 Knowlton, and Gray. The latter part of the eighteenth, and the beginning 

 of the nineteenth century, however, has been the great botanical era 

 for which this comitiy vrill ever be conspicuous. The discoveiy of Aus- 

 traha, the extension of the British power in India and both the Americas 

 — aided by the patronage of the most wealthy aristocracy in the world, 

 including the soverign himself, who thought it not beneath his dignity to 

 join his subjects in sending out collectors to all quarters of the globe. 

 Theii' united exertions have brought a combination of power to bear 

 on botanical discovery, which has been attended with tlie most happy 

 result, to which the enterprising commercial spirit of the late jlessrs. Lee 

 and Kennedy, the most celebrated collectors of those days, rendered essen- 

 tial assistance. 



Not only have botanical and horticultural gpj'dens been estabhshed in 

 all om' priucii^al cities, but private ones are maintained with princely 

 liberality by many of our nobility and gentry, amongst whom the Dukes 



