August i3t * 8 9 8 



GARDENERS' MAGAZINE, 



529 



a mature Trees in full bearing will benefit greatly by copious supplies of 

 ^ Vman^e, and to obtain fine specimens it will be necesssary to reduce crowded 



fr 



" The f Sits y of most kinds of dessert cherries have now been cleared, but the 

 Xnuld no be neglected. I am aware, with so many other things needing 

 ^• •Hf a difficult matter to provide food or moisture to trees that have 

 fTTcrov but the roots of few trees dry more quickly than the cherry, and 

 S kinds as Governor Wood, one oi our best croppers and a never-failing 

 flSer soon flags and needs more moisture than trees which have deeper roots. 



Iffl^ 2 iven earlier in th . C SeaS °- n ' 11 WlU -. b - e 



ere this and another one needed to conserve the moisture given, as it is 



Stant to build up strong buds for the ensuing season. Such a season as we 



^now experiencing shows the value of giving fruit trees a free root run-that is 



^croDPimT the border within at least four feet of the wall, as then a mulch, if 



«b litter will furnish the roots with the shade and moisture needed, and prevent 



" flLeing " which is often the case in shallow soils. Newly-planted fruit trees 



of any kind are beginning to feel the effects of heat and drought, and any allowed 



to bear fruits should have the crop reduced if at all thick. With a thin soil or 



eravel we are obliged to mulch liberally, and find cow manure that has been laid 



up in heaps for a time the best mulch, as it retains moisture longer than most 



things. Apple and pear trees, bushes or pyramids, planted on grass are feeling 



the drought badly, and in places where the grass is coarse it will be best to cleanse 



the surface for a space of two or three feet, and give a mulch to encourage 



surface roots, and when liquid manure can be spared, it may be given with 



tdfantage. Late strawberries on north borders will now be over, and it 



will he well to make new plantations. Unfortunately, most of our best late 



nrieties make few runners and a small growth, so that in planting this 



should be borne in mind, and the plants placed closer together ; as these kinds 



usually remain for two years, it is important to give good soil. The new Lady 



Suffield strawberry promises to be a grand late fruiter, and will be a good 



companion to Latest of All, as it appears to come in with that variety. I wish 



Mr. Allan would give us a new and still later fruiter ; We have Oxonion, but the 



quality is poor, though it is useful for its late cropping. Raspberries, owing to heat 



and drought, have had a short season, but those who prune for autumn fruiting 



will reap the advantage, as the plants are making fine growths. The summer 



uiters should now have their old fruiting canes cut out, as this will allow the light 



to reach the new canes, maturing them for next season ; the old canes are none 



too clean in light soils, red spider having spread freely of late, so that by removal it 



will in a measure destroy the pest also. Autumn fruiters should have their growths 



■pported, and any weak growths may be cut away. The^e plants will well repay 



i liberal mulch or supplies of liquid manure. Gooseberry trees on walls or trellises 



fcr late fiuit, should have the new forer ght and side shoots closely spurred in, and 



may be necessary to shade if on a warm wall, I prefer the north wall for these 



jits. Young trees intended for cordon growing should be shaped and the leaders 



cocouraged to extend. Bush trees that have not borne a heavy crop are making 



much pOVth, so we arc reducing the lower shoots somewhat of those kinds that 



lave a tendency to grow close to the soil.— G. Wythes, Syon Gardens. 



I 



Am 



OF FRU 



■ ■ ■ » 1 ■ ^# ■ 



Ail our fruits, without exception, have, observed the President of the Irish Gardeners' 

 A-sM,c.a .on at a recent meeting of that body, been so much improved by one 

 a urnstance or another that they no longer bear any resemblance, in respect of 

 JaXrf \ v- ° n S ina [ ^ peS ,- Who ' for instaQ ce, would recognise the wild 



\ r' h !35SS* 6 °? S C: ° lden 1>r ° P ' 0r G ' ee ^ge plum in the savage 



r~ k 6 R,bstonand Golden Pippin apples in the worthless, acid crab ? 

 Z£t J 10 ? 6 DOW , bC t , raced between the deli "ous Reurre pears, whose 

 mnbu* ,T' 1 ' "ft aDd ? eItlDg ' and that hard ' st °ny» astringent fruit which 

 from £e .nT.Vm ? , theSe ? re undoubted ^es of improvement, resulting 

 SSLK ■ nfT L r i' n Pa, ! emly P ersistentl y s * ^ action. The constant 



2H the man I f! ^ fS4 We " the hardeSt stone than will the 



KSfi^tafkS H L^f 1 , *" NatUre 10 beCOme sub5e 'vient to his wants or 

 AoJdlS imnroveT l ° S " V1Ce t0 mankind that the quality of any fruit 

 ^riteHffiSfc™ certain mode of multi- 



32ti«t Which it ' e hn When „ °iv 1 tained - HenCC there tW ° COn " 



««J"vator should £ HilLi a f necessar y that the attention of the 



«w r Mouw be directed, namely, amelioration and propagation 



• tSSSX^ dther in neW and i-P-ve g d varieties of fruit 



^« H iS' m V he ? acquired It will be as well to consider 



■«we was given o domei 7 ; A What meaDS the first tendenc y to cba ^« their 

 ** it *as 0 g SaHv due T ° S3 P ,ants * e , «e entirely ignorant. It is probable 

 owinued 1 o^!!l accid ent, and also that it was still mere chance which 



There is in all beings a disposition 



rnltii»t~1 „. eyen ^ ft w jj d 



ceviat 



** this disDosit ' • b i-iiaragier wnen 



l**e tuhWt TJ^^ft in £ °me as to render them particularly adapted to 



Without, then, vainly endeavouring to discover 



to form vnnptipQ 



tfcebst 

 ether 



dbnittit;™ • u,5 posiuon to lorm « 

 T CX ^ ts - Cultivators increase 



intermediate nature. 



■uing the , 

 %of an _„ 



at pleasu^ 



ln»o*i Dg >eeds £ ™« » «po. rtant controlling power that we possess. 



5^,°« only that the se& JST ,°, P<<*"™Z™l>™ed varieties, care should be 

 •■•thM th. 1 me seeds should be taken from the fi^., 1.- j. ..... 



the charact 



/ are Crinr«nt— . 



'.hat 



or sugar & 



ne y will be m^t J. . ■ it ' tircums lances, it is reasonable to 



in *hich & peculiar f^f y ^ oncentra ted in a seed taken from that 

 me fruit of an Jnnir ****** 'eside in the highest degree. For 

 "W* than in the gI ™!° g Uf> °° a north wal1 there is a smaller 



, . u ine Carrie Varietv rrrnu;in» n«w« » 



M iT' ""cans m Kir " 1V - parent or a n 



ViS** 0? ^rS We Th° Pr ° dUCe lhe ' a] 



«S. mer ^ted, ^„' rl and also in preserving 



«»«^r who ^L US10n ' thal this mat te> 



110 * "hes to excel in raising 



— vv a lsi a ^aiut_in,i 



sort to stimulate that variety 



The Tudor Garden. 



It was not until the days of " the high and magnificent princes " of the Tudor 

 line that gardens in our sense of the word were general throughout the realm. 

 When in perfection they were equally stately and beautiful, and, in their natural 

 variety, far superior to the commonplace blazes of colour in geometrical shapes 

 which make up the modern garden, wherein all individuality seems sacrificed to 

 conventionalism. 



The Tudor garden at its best— as it served for the retiring-place of the learned 

 and accomplished men who marked the era — is described in the noble essay of 

 Bacon which is an English classic. In an age when fin de siccle self-conceit and 

 shallowness finds all literature not " up to date " obsolete, and asserts that Scott, 

 Dickens, and Thackeray (not to mention many another name) are "too long- 

 winded," it may not be needless to quote some of those immortal phrases. 



" God Almighty," says the statesman, lawyer, philosopher, and wit — whose 

 intellect in its many-sidedness still stands unrivalled in the glory-roll of Britain— 

 " first planted a garden ; and, indeed, it is the purest of humane pleasures. It is 



the greatest refreshment to the spirits of man I doe hold it, that in the 



royall ordering of gardens, there ought to be gardens, for all the moneths in the 

 yeare ; in which severally things of beautie may be then in season." Perhaps the 

 nearest approach on a miniature scale to the Tudor garden is to be found in the 

 delightful old-world cottage, one in such of the counties as lie M far from the 

 madding crowd," in remote counties where the wheels of life move slowly, where 

 the sight and smell are gratified as the wayfarer leans over the wicket which opens 

 between the thick edges of whitethorn, and which is odorous on either side from 

 the ample bush of sweetbriar always prominent in such gardens. 



Whether the garden in the Tudor days lay stately behind the noble's castle or 

 the less imposing but sufficiently substantial manor-house of the small landowner, 

 or on a smaller scale ornamented the homestead of the flourishing and sturdy 

 yeoman whose ancestors had dwelt for generations in the same place, there was a 

 similarity in the flowers and fruits, the contour and proportions which marked it. 

 As time went on the science of gardening improved, and thus during the Tudor 

 reigns successively the system grew in beauty, until becoming that idealised by 

 Bacon. 



Before the reign of Henry VII. gardening as a general thing was little known 

 in England. The monasteries had always encouraged cultivation ; amid all the 

 wars and woes of centuries the peaceful art of horticulture had been among the 

 other benefits they conferred on a community torn by wars and feudal oppressions. 



With the settled despotism of Henry VII. and his tyrant successor there was 

 in things social that calm which, however deceptive, characterises the rule of an 

 iron hand. And the spread of gardening on a much more elaborate scale was one 

 of its accompaniments. Quaint and formal to our ideas these stately gardens, 

 and yet with a wealth of delightful English blossoms, some of whose very names 

 are poetry, and amid which fair maidens indulged in the high-flown language of 

 euphuism, and the elaborate play on words which marked the conversation of 

 fashionable youth of the period. 



To the square garden with its fruit and flowers was usually added a smooth- 

 mown bowling-green, and very often a fish-pond. Often in such ancient demesnes 

 can the situation of the vanished fish-pond now grassed over be marked by the 

 circular depression in the area of the turf. The red roses of the House of 

 Lancaster were of course in the ascendant among flowers. Roses of various kinds, 

 and that which, as Bacon says, comes later, "the musk ''—the out of fashion, 

 delightful, ancient rose which every rose lover of the genuine as distinct from the 

 conventional class prizes wherever he finds it. Violets, daffodils, anemones, wall- 

 flowers, double white violets, gillyflowers, pinks, sweetbriar, lilies, tulips, peonies, 

 marigolds, periwinkles— white, purple, and blue — great favourites these, as will 

 later be shown— hollyhocks, musk, crocuses, and hyacinths — these were the most 

 esteemed flowers in the Tudor garden, as Bacon's fragrant list shows. But there 

 were also according to " Euphues and his England " (black letter, 1605), which is 

 a description of a visit in Elizabeth's reign to English country houses, Sops in 

 Wine " and " Sweet Johns." The hero of the story, who has arrived from Naples, 

 remarks to some of the beauties who invite him with much word fervency, to 

 choose a posy, 44 Here are so many in one plot as I shall never find more in all 

 Italic" 



No garden of the period probably surpassed that attached to the "fair house 

 at Chelsea," where dwelt during his prosperous days Sir Thomas More. States- 

 man, orator, scholar, and wit, he was unsurpassed if equalled in Europe, and to 

 the qualities which |make up this description he added those of a gentle piety 

 which never failed him in his after calamities, and a serene and high- tempered 

 courage which enabled him to lay his head on the block with an innocent jest on 

 his lips. At the time when his garden was in its greatest beauty, however, he 

 was in high favour with Henry VIII. " The King," says Erasmus, More s great 

 admirer "would scarcely ever suffer the philosopher to quit him ; for if serious 

 affairs were to be considered, who could give more prudent counsel ? Or if the 

 King's mind was to be relaxed by cheerful conversation, who could there be a 

 more facetious companion ? " 



Throughout the winding walks of that garden, bright and odorous wi'h the 

 flowers already named, the silver Thames flowing musically close by, Henry 

 would walk in converse with More, his arm round his favourite's neck. Even 

 then however, amid the flowers and sunshine typical of the temporary sunshine 

 of the capricious monarch's favour, the keen insight into human character which 

 More possessed enabled him to see the shifting nature of that favour. Walking 

 in that garden with his son-in-law, Roper, husband of that favourite daughter, 

 M irgaret, whose filial piety at » that last memorable scene " of More's life has 

 immortalised her name, More was congratulated by his son-in-law on the king s 



favour and familiarity. 



" I thank our Lord, son," said the calm philosopher, "I find his Grace my 

 verv good lord indeed, and I believe he doth as singularly favour me as any other 

 subject within this realm ; howbeit, son Roper, I may tell thee, I have no cause 

 to be proud thereof; for if my head would win him a castle in France, when there 

 was war between us, it should not fail to go." July 6, 1535, when » before nine 

 o'clock of the morning " (by the despot s special order) More placidly laid his 

 head on the block, verified his prescient words. 



Trees of odorous blossom are among the charms of the Tudor garden as des- 

 cribed by Bacon in words which make us perceive their waving boughs and 

 multitudinous fragrance. The Victorian garden does not regard such bloom as 

 among that which makes up the charm of petals. So much the worse for the 

 modern garden and the limited ideas which define it 



blossoms which loaded the air with fragrance from the borders were ample 

 varieties of those which courted the higher airs three hundred years ago. First 

 let us however, recur to the periwinkle, always conspicuous in border and by 

 shrubbery. It was sung as " pervinckle " by Chaucer five hundred years ago. 

 It had in France and thence in England occult associations, and was supposed to 

 be medicinal for various things— cramp especially. But particularly was the peri- 



Above the old-world 



