4l6 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



de Pomologie," and is most valuable as a witness of the great interest 

 which must have been taken in fruit cultivation at this date. 



The closing years of the sixteenth century mark the first appearance 

 of a pomological Hterature in England. The earliest works were all 

 translations or adaptations of French works. Leonard Mascall 

 and Barnabe Googe were both translators, and it was not until 

 William Lawson pubhshed his " A Nev/ Orchard and Garden " that we 

 had a really English work. Authorities are not in agreement as to 

 the date of the first edition, but the dates 1597 and 1615, given by 

 Johnson in his " History of Gardening," are probably erroneous. 

 The earliest edition I have seen is in the British Museum, dated 1617. 

 Another edition is dated 1618, and is probably a reprint of the first 

 edition, and the second and third editions are respectively 1623 and 

 1626. Many other editions followed, and it was reprinted with 

 Markham's " Way to get Wealth " in 1648. 



The book is quite original and contains very practical directions 

 for laying down orchards, and it is of great historical importance 

 as the first really Enghsh work upon fruit trees. 



No work of outstanding merit, from the point of view of this 

 paper, was published in England till the translation of Quintinye's 

 great work was undertaken by Evelyn. There are, however, two 

 books which demand notice for the evidence they give of originality 

 and research. The first of these is " The History of the Propagation 

 and Improvement of Vegetables " by Robert Sharrock. The 

 author was born at Adstock, in Buckinghamshire, and took the degree 

 of D.L. at Oxford and afterwards entered the Church. He was led 

 to write his book by his distrust of the fantastic tales of graftings 

 and buddings described in many books of the time, tales which he not 

 unfairly considers worthy of the great Sir John Mandeville. Finding 

 by experiment how impossible it was to graft an apple on a cabbage 

 or an elm, he thought well to describe the methods and limits of this 

 practice. The work is not wholly confined to the propagation of 

 fruits, but it cannot be omitted in the consideration of pomological 

 hterature. The first edition is dated 1660 and has 150 pages. The 

 second edition was enlarged to 255 pages and was published in 1672. 

 The additions are general throughout, and do not consist of the adding 

 of fresh chapters. The third edition (1694) was called " An Improve- 

 ment to the Art of Gardening," but is identical with the second. 



Somewhat similar in scope was the work of Francis Drope, 

 entitled " A Short and Sure Guide in the Practice of Raising and 

 Ordering Fruit Trees," pubhshed at Oxford in 1672. A fellow of 

 Magdalen College and a divine by profession, he took " an inoffensive 

 delight ' ' in planting, and this delight is evident on every page of this 

 httle book. The fullest directions for raising stocks and grafting 

 trees are given in a style which is full of charm and quaintness. The 

 grafting and budding of trees entirely occupy the writer, and the 

 instructions throughout are of a very sound and practical order. 



The next book which had a real influence upon Enghsh fruit garden- 



