July 28, 1388. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
79 
therefore, should be to assist both as much as possible, and this can best 
be done by freely thinning the young growth, only laying in enough to 
furnish the trees with bearing wood next season. The growths being 
thus thinly trained will have the full benefit of sunshine and light, and 
the fruit will be similarly benefited. Those trees that have reached 
the top of the walls are apt to form most wood just under the coping, 
and the greater portion of this ought to be removed, only a few leaves 
being reserved beyond any fruit there may be. Light crops are the 
rule, but where there are exceptions continue to thin freely, as the 
fruit on overcropped trees is rarely of the best. Overcropping also 
materially shortens the lives of trees. One good fruit to every 8 square 
inches of tree surface is ample in the case of Peaches, but the 
Nectarines may be left rather more thickly. Remove all nails pressing 
against the fruit before the latter are spoilt.—W. I. 
GARDENING LITERATURE PAST AND PRESENT. 
I A. paper by Mr. W. K. Woodcock, The Gardens, Oakbrook, Sheffield, read before the 
Walkley Amateur Floral and Horticultural Society, June loth, 18 «S.] 
It has been said that we may judge the moral and material 
character of a people by the nature of its literature ; and if this be true 
of a nation so also I believe is it true of a profession, science, or art. 
Either of the latter possessing no literature of its own, or only such as 
is of a very poor character, is decided in an unsatisfactory condition, 
Gardening, however, is certainly not defective upon these grounds. 
Probably no other profession possesses a literature so ancient, so varied, 
or so generally useful, and which during the past twenty years has been 
so greatly extended and improved. Passing the scriptural references to 
gardens and the writings of the earliest authors we come to Pliny, a 
Roman author, who at the commencement of the Christian era, 
and at the time when the Roman Empire was in the zenith of its power 
and affluence wrote at great length concerning the gardens of the 
Romans. The wealthy nobles appear to have spent vast sums of money 
in the cultivation of flowers, and especially of Roses, which were used 
by them in such lavish profusion that as much as four million sesterces, 
or about £30,000, have been expended on them for a single banquet. 
After the fall of the Roman Empire for a period of nearly five 
centuries there existed a state of semi-barbarity which is now commonly 
known as the “ Dark Ages,” and during which scarcely any books were 
written except upon religious matters, and these by the monks. The 
first book which appeared upon rural and gardening matters was by 
Crescenzia in Italy early in the fifteenth century. None, however, 
appeared in Britain until that of Fitzherbert, which was published 
about the middle of the sixteenth century. The late Mr. G. W. Johnson 
in his “ History of Gardening” tells us that the author of the first 
hook on gardening in England was Watton de Honley in the reign of 
Edward III. Towards the end of the sixteenth century several authors 
of works on gardening and husbandry had appeared, among whom 
were Tusser, Mountain, Mascal, and Hyll, most of whom wrote on the 
subject partly from their own experience and partly by translating 
from Latin and Greek authors. 
One of the earliest books of value was “ The Gardeners’ Labyrinth,’’ 
published by Didymus Mountain in 1571. This book was professedly a 
compilation of extracts on gardening topics from various other works. 
A second part of this work was published in 1577, and other editions 
followed. During the seventeenth century garden literature grew 
apace. Many of the writers of this period were practical gardeners who 
wrote from their own experience. Amongst the principal names of 
writers were Plat, Lawson, Gardener, Standish, Parkinson, Plattes, 
Austin, Tradescant, Evelyn, Conlev, Blake, Rea, Worledge, Meager, 
Temple, and others. Parkinson published a work entitled “ Paradisus,” 
or “ Garden of Pleasant Flowers,” in which he gives lists of flowers, 
fruits, and vegetables then cultivated. In his list of flowering plants 
he enumerates 137 sorts of Tulips, 95 of Narcissus and Daffodils, 
50 Hyacinths, 31 Crocus, 73 Irises, 67 Anemones, 23 Ranunculuses, 
9 Geraniums, 22 Auriculas, 21 Polyanthuses and Cowslips, 52 Carnations 
and Gilliflowcrs, 20 Pinks, 21 Roses, and smaller numbers of varieties of 
other flowers. In 1653 appeared a treatise of fruit trees by Ralph 
Austen, which is said to be a good book and containing much sound 
information upon the subject. A book entitled “Adam out of Eden” 
was published by Adam Speed in 1659. In it he says, “ There are those 
about London that make £200 an acre by gardening.” Samuel Hart-lib in 
his work a “ Legacy of Husbandry,” published in 1655, says Gardening 
is but of a few years’ standing in England, and therefore is not well 
understood ; and that a Surrey landlord feared the gardeners would 
spoil his ground by digging. Probably the best writer of the century 
was John Evelyn, F.R.S., a highly cultured and educated gentleman, 
born at Wootton in Surrey, and educated at Oxford. His principal 
works were “ The French Gardener,” a translation ; “ Fumifugium,” or 
the inconvenience of the air and smoke of London. This work was 
dedicated to His Majesty Charles II., and published by his command ; 
“ Sylva, or a Discourse about Forest Trees,” with an appendix on fruit 
trees ; “ Kalendarium Hortense,” a monthly calendar of 'operations; 
“ Terra,” a discourse on the culture and improvement of the earth for . 
vegetation and the propagation of plants ; and “ Pomona,” a discourse 
on cider Apples. Very numerous were the writers on these topics in the 
next or eighteenth century, prominent amongst whom were London and 
Wise, Collins, Switzer, Fairchild, Miller, Abercrombie, Forsyth, Hitt, 
Wheeler, Repton, Whateley, and Nicol. 
Probably the one whose works are most known and read even up to 
the present date is Abercrombie. He was a thoroughly practical 
gardener, who having left his parents when some fifteen years of age, 
came to London, and after a time obtained employment in Kew 
Gardens, afterwards, at different periods, living as gardener with several 
noblemen, and following that, again, as a nurseryman at Hackney. He 
wrote fifteen or sixteen different books in his time, but undoubtedly the 
one which was most profitable to himself and to its readers was “ Every 
Man His Own Gardener.” I should not omit mention of the name 
of Mr. T. A. Knight, who was a very eminent pomologist and a 
voluminous writer. I was looking down a list the other day of the 
essays he had written, and found them to number no less than 107, 
chiefly relating to fruit culture. In the early portion of the present 
century garden literature made great strides, and very many new 
writers appeared, principal amongst whom were Mr. Joseph Sabine, 
Secretary to the Horticultural Society, who wrote numerous works 
on a great variety of subjects. William Salisbury wrote a work 
entitled “ Hints to Proprietors of Orchards,” which was much 
thought of. Henry Andrews, in 1802, published several useful works 
on “ Heaths Illustrated,” with coloured engravings. Walter Nicol also 
wrote about the same time a series of useful books, and he was followed 
closely by William Pontey, forester to the Duke of Bedford, who wrote 
“ Rural Recreations, or the Gardener’s Instructor,” 1802 ; “ The Forest 
Pruner,” 1808 ; “ The Profitable Planter,” 1809 ; and the “ Rural Im¬ 
prover,” 1S23 ; all practical works, which had a large circulation. 
Sir Joseph Banks, President of the Royal Society, one of the most 
learned scientists our country has produced, about this time wrote a 
number of papers or pamphlets on gardening topics, all of them very 
valuable contributions, the principal and more important amongst 
them,being, “ An Attempt to Ascertain the Time when the Potato was 
First Introduced into this Country, with Some Account of the Hill 
Wheat in India,” “Hints Respecting Inuring Tender Plants to Our 
Climate,” “ On Ripening the Second Crop of Figs that Grow on the 
New Shoots,” and “Notes Relating to the First Appearance of the 
Aphis lanigera, or the Apple Tree Insect, in this Country.” The 
greatest of all the gardening authors, however, who wrote in the early 
part of the present century, was undoubtedly Mr. J. C. Loudon, to 
whose valuable Encyclopaedia on gardening I am indebted for many of 
the names and dates given in this paper. He was by profession a land¬ 
scape gardener, and was born in Lanarkshire in 1782, commencing prac¬ 
tice in his profession in 1803. In 1810 he was an extensive farmer in 
Oxfordshire and Middlesex. In 1813, 1811, and 1S15 he had given up 
farming and was travelling on the Continent, and in 1820 he had 
settled down in Bayswater, London, practising occasionally his pro¬ 
fession of landscapist, but occupying his time principally as an author. 
One of the most important and valuable contributions to gardening 
literature ever penned was his “Encyclopaedia of Gardening,” mentioned 
above. The first edition was published in 1822, and the fifth in 1827. 
It is an extraordinary book of nearly 1500 pages octavo, and very 
closely printed. It is written in a clear and pleasant style, is profusely 
illustrated with wood engravings, and deals in an exhaustive manner with 
every branch of gardening. He also published an Encyclopaedia of 
Plants, and another of Agriculture, works similar in character and con¬ 
struction to the one on gardening. Another large work published by 
him was “ Hortus Britannicus, a Catalogue of all the Plants Cultivated 
in, or Introduced to Britain,” but the largest and most C03tly of all the 
works he undertook was “ The Arboretum et Fruticetum Britannicum,” 
generally called “ The Arboretum,” in eight octavo volumes, profusely 
illustrated. It is said to have cost £20,000 in bringing out. In addition 
to large sums he had paid in ready money during its progress to artists 
and others employed in its production, he found at its conclusion that 
he owed £10,000 to the printer, stationer, and wood engraver who had 
been employed on the work. He wrote several important works upon 
the theory and practice of landscape gardening, anil also upon the 
construction of hothouses. He was also Editor of “ The Gar¬ 
deners’ Magazine,” and “ The Magazine of Natural History.” His wife 
was a very accomplished and clever writer, and wrote numerous garden¬ 
ing works especially for ladies, one of which “ The Ladies’ Flower Gar¬ 
den,” a beautifully illustrated work in six quarto volumes, is still in 
much request. 
About 1820 the Transactions of the London Horticultural Society 
(which had been established in 1801, and received a Royal Charter in 
1809) were annually published, and began to attract some notice on 
account of the excellence of some of the papers contained, and which 
proved a valuable contribution to garden literature. Other writers of 
this period were Griffin, Haynes, Hooker, Curling, Hogg, Lyon, Emmer- 
ton, Mean, and Brooksliaw. Robert Sweet was also a writer of some 
valuable and useful works, as “The Botanical Cultivator” (1820), 
“ The Hortus Britannicus ” (1826), “ The Geraniaccre ” (1830), “ The 
Cistine® ” (1830), “ The British Flower Garden,” “ Flora Australasica ” 
(1828), and “ The Florists’ Guide” (1832). Henry Philips, who wrote 
between 1820 and 1833, also published numerous useful works. “ The 
Floricultural Cabinet,” a monthly illustrated gardening periodical, was 
commenced by Harrison in 1833 and was carried on for tw r enty-seven 
years. Loddiges, nurseryman of Hackney, whose nursery at that time 
occupied a leading position, began to publish “ The Botanical Cabinet ” 
(a very high class work) in 1817, and which stopped in 1833. It con¬ 
tains coloured plates of 2000 plants. “ The Botanical Register,” also a 
high class periodical, commenced in 1815, and stopped in 1817 with the 
thirty-third volume. The later volumes of this work were edited by 
Dr. Lindley. “ The Horticultural Register,” edited jointly by Paxton 
and Harrison, began in 1832, and extended to six volumes only, and 
“ The Floricultural Cabinet,” by Robert Marnoek, commenced in 1836, 
