144 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ August 16, 1888 
thought improvements necessary after that I was careful not to 
express such thoughts to my kind and considerate old master, with 
whom I stayed till the day of his death. 
It is doubtless a mistake for a gardener to insist on so-and-so 
being done, especially when he finds his employer is opposed to it. 
Better to go on in a quiet way and make the best of existing 
arrangements than to be perpetually grumbling. Many vacancies 
have been caused by a few words spoken without sufficient thought 
on the resources at the command of a gardener being of such a 
primitive nature. On taking charge of a new situation it should 
be a gardener’s business to find out, by casual conversation with his 
employer, or by direct questions, whether or not alterations are 
desired, and then act on the answer returned, and from w r hich 
useful hints may often be derived. A continual grumbler is likely 
enough to become a trouble to an employer, and sooner or later the 
partnership will be dissolved, when by a little thought and tact on 
the gardener’s part he might have had a comfortable home and 
creditable employment for many years. I have in the course of 
'experience observed many changes made in gardens ; many have 
been decided improvements, and are at the present time standing 
proofs of the gardener’s ability. But there are cases of the oppo- 
' site character. Fine trees, ornaments to any place, and splendid 
shrubs, specimens that many would give much to possess, have been 
destroyed, all for the sake of making a change and producing a new 
effect that did not approach in dignity the old. 
Fine old trees and specimen shrubs are not the production of a 
day, and I know of few subjects in gardening that require and are 
deserving of more serious thought than the destruction or preserva¬ 
tion of such. Alterations and improvements in any department 
are not matters to be trifled with, and all such should be carefully 
thought out in detail before operations commence. That there are 
many gardens where much improvement is needed I am well aware, 
and it may be that the owners of such are equally aware of the 
fact, and also probably aware where the expense of such im¬ 
provements will fall. Moreover, the owner of an estate has lived 
a long life and become so accustomed to his home surroundings 
that the gardener would meet with a poor reception in case he 
• advanced any improving ideas. But, after all, as has been said, 
gardeners and servants should try and do what is right and in ac¬ 
cordance with the wishes of their employers. If improvements 
are desired in the gardener’s charge he should set about them in 
the best way that he possibly can. If, on the contrary, he finds 
that such changes are not agreeable he should not be continually 
finding fault on that score, but try and make the best of existing 
circumstances, and he will then be more likely to gain confidence 
and feel himself secure in his home.— Anglian. 
NOTES ON EARLY ENGLISH HORTICULTURE. 
(Continued from page 461, last vol .) 
Before quitting the subject of Roman influence on English 
horticulture exerted during the centuries when our island was a 
province of the mighty empire that has never had a successor, a 
few more facts may be noted ■which have some bearing upon the 
history of horticulture in these islands. That there followed a 
period of depression after Rome gave up the sovereignty is certain, 
but if the men went many of the plants they brought here remained 
and propagated themselves far and wide, till after generations 
wondered how they had arrived and from whence they came. As 
the Grape is the principal berry of Italy, even to the present day, 
doubtless this was one of the first fruits introduced by the Romans, 
and they had many varieties, some vaguely described as thick- 
skinned and thin-skinned, long-berried and round-berried, and it is 
at least probable that some of the vineyards well known in the 
Middle Ages, and which have left their impress in the names of 
places, were composed of Vines descended from Italian stocks. 
And the Vine was cultivated with much attention, almost enthu¬ 
siasm, as was the Olive. If the Romans experimented with the 
latter in England their success would be limited, though Miller 
asserts that trees placed against a warm wall at Kensington grew 
well and produced fruit in 1719. And there are Olives which have 
stood the open air many years in the mild climate of Devonshire. 
It would seem that the principal fruits introduced during the 
Roman period were the Almond and Fig from Syria, the Citron 
from Media, the Peach from Persia, the Pomegranate from Africa, 
the Apricot from Epirus, the Cherry from Pontus, Apples, Pears, 
and Plums from Armenia. At least one kind of Apple, perhaps more, 
grew in Britain previously. Of these only a part would, if exposed, 
yield fruit, owing to the coldness of our winters, unless the climate 
was more equable formerly, as some argue, but the evidence is 
shadowy, except that the extent of forest and marsh was much 
greater than now ; our climate was certainly more moist, perhaps 
hotter in summer. Of Apples it is reckoned that the Romans 
knew about twenty-five kinds; of Pears more, thirty-five or 
upwards, distinguishing those suitable for eating and for cooking. 
Their Plums are classed as black, white, and mottled, there being 
several varieties of each, one evidently our Prune. At least eight 
kinds of Cherries, one too tender when ripe to bear carriage, another 
small and hard-fleshed. Only the black Mulberry was known to 
the Romans, and no varieties of the Peach or Apricot are men¬ 
tioned. Of Chestnuts they had six sorts. The Walnut was valued 
for its fruit, called sometimes the “food of the gods,” and they 
cultivated a kind of Filbert, the fruit of which they ate baked or 
roasted. Strawberries the Romans seem to have had, but the heat 
of Italy did not suit them ; history fails to tell us whether they 
took under cultivation the British Hautbois. The Quince and the 
Medlar were grown, but not particularly esteemed ; our other fruits 
were unknown. In their kitchen gardens the Romans had many 
plants familiar to us, afterwards forgotten in England through ten 
centuries nearly, except where a few of them happened to be culti¬ 
vated by the monks. Our leguminous vegetables, our esculent 
roots mostly, the Brassicas, the savoury Alliaceous tribe, various 
salad and sweet herbs, were not only grown by them, but they re¬ 
ceived the personal attention of the Roman gentlemen, whose 
kitchen gardens were sometimes almost extensive enough to be 
cilled garden farms. Prominent favourites were the species of 
Gourd, which occupy a position between fruits and vegetables, 
such as the Cucumber and the Melon. It was one of the odd 
superstitions of both Greeks and Romans that these plants disliked 
the presence of the female sex, hence women and girls were 
cautioned to keep away from the beds where they were growing. 
But on the other hand, women might be of some use, for it is 
stated by Democritus that when a plot of land is infested with 
caterpillars if a woman go round it three times barefooted, and 
having her hair hanging loose, they will die. I wonder whether it 
has occurred to anyone to try this “ insecticide ” during this pro¬ 
lific caterpillar season. Evidently the Roman gardeners had great 
faith also in the doctrine of lucky and unlucky days, and even 
hours ; thus they advised that Beans should be gathered just before 
dawn, and Vines always pruned at night if the crop had been a 
failure. Then there were notions current as to what operations 
should be performed in the increase of the moon, and what in its 
decrease. Perhaps these might not be altogether so foolish as may 
appear at first, for I have spoken to gardeners who think the moon 
has some influence upon vegetation ; but it would require careful 
and repeated observations to ascertain about this. Fond as the 
Romans were of flowers, while their sway extended over Britain 
they had not many species so far as we can tell, but they were 
grown freely. Lilies, Hyacinths, and Roses were prominent, also 
some showy Composite plants of doubtful identification, perhaps 
our Aster and Marigold ; with Rose bushes the walks were often 
bordered, and they were also grown in clumps. As there rose a de¬ 
mand for Roses out of season Pliny says the gardeners hastened 
their development in spring by the application of warm water to 
the roots. The passion for a profuse display of Roses is stated to 
have come from Egypt, where at entertainments people strewed 
their rooms with the entire flowers (or the petals) to the depth of 
more than a foot. No scientific arrangement of plants was 
attempted by the Romans in any of their gardens, but they were 
accustomed to place plants used for medicine or flavouring in beds 
by themselves, apart from other species. 
Curiously enough the departure of the Romans from Britain 
did not finally extinguish the influence of Italy upon our horti¬ 
culture, as after an interval this was renewed by the doings of the; 
ecclesiastics, amongst w'hom there was always a good per-centage 
of Italian foreigners. This occurred in two ways—firstly, by the 
diligent cultivation of a variety of plants in the monastery gardens, 
where the pursuit relieved the tedium of cloister life, and many 
species were kept up from century to century which were well-nigh 
unknown to the outer world ; and secondly, through the visits paid 
to England by a peculiar class of religious men, the palmers, about 
whose history most of the dictionary-makers show themselves 
ignorant. We get the clue to it from the fact that some haivy 
caterpillars were called by our ancestors “ palmer worms,” because 
they seemed to be always wandering about. A pilgrim went a 
specified journey and returned; a palmer spent his life in going 
from place to place, and often carried a branch of Palm, but as old 
historians tell, he also not unfrequently brought to these western 
lands seeds or fruits obtained while he wandered in hotter climates, 
and described the plants he had observed there. 
The three Saxon tribes dwelling on the shores of the North Sea 
who sent parties of emigrants to Britain in the fifth century were 
not likely to favour the advance of horticulture at first. In one 
particular, indeed, they followed in the footsteps of the Romans, 
for they were diligent growers of corn, and it was still largely 
produced in Britain, where, under Roman management, the island' 
had raised so much grain that it was sent to countries on the 
