332 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ April 25, 1882. 
At Brompton, afterwards to become so famous for its nursery, 
Lord Burleigh is said to have had an experimental garden attached 
to the house, in which he was visited by Queen Elizabeth. Her 
Majesty, it would appear, was somewhat of a critic in garden 
affairs, for when stopping a night at the Bishop’s palace, Fulham, 
she complained in the morning that the Bishop had encumbered his 
garden with too many trees, which had an unpleasing effect as she 
looked out from her bedroom window. About 1607 the gardens of 
Holland House were laid out by Sir W. Cope, who had acquired 
the estate, and probably planted the groves of Elms and Limes 
which became so famous in later history. Hatfield House was an 
Elizabethan mansion. At that period the gardens were diversified 
with many ponds and streamlets carried through green alleys. 
There was also a vineyard remarkable for the crops it yielded. The 
noted garden of Theobalds, Herts, originated, perhaps, with Lord 
Salisbury. Afterwards James I. build a wall round the park, said to 
have been ten miles in circumference. He added new labyrinths, 
nine “ knots,” or flower beds ; here was also a “laundry garden.” This 
may require a word of explanation, as it is a term we do not recog¬ 
nise now, but our forefathers used to plant a variety of fragrant 
herbs, such as Lavender and Rosemary, in the plots of ground set 
apart for drying clothes, under the supposition that aromatic 
particles from the plants were absorbed by the fabric of the gar¬ 
ments hung up. This idea ought really to be recommended to the 
attention of our modern washerwomen. 
Before parting from worthy Gerard, to whom I referred in the 
preceding article, I must note the relationship in which he stands 
to some other vegetables of importance. To the Asparagus he 
attributes much excellence, and gives cultural directions, especially 
advising a free use of manure ; but he allows this vegetable was 
not much esteemed, perhaps because it was then the fashion to 
cook it with oil and vinegar. He does not state that the garden 
kind came from Holland, though this has been supposed to be the 
case ; he had, however, a belief that the wild kind, which he had 
seen in Essex and in Lincolnshire, could by due cultivation be made 
almost equally good.. It seems odd to read, in his remarks upon 
the Turnip, that the best to be got in London were sold at the 
Cross, Cheapside, and brought into the City from Hackney. He 
had observed that it was then a common practice to sow Turnips in 
vineyards and Hop gardens, and noticed that many persons liked to 
eat them raw. How it was our forefathers grew the Tomato or 
“ Love Apple ’ for many years before they ate the fruit we cannot 
say. The Hollanders dressed it in the fifteenth century with 
pepper, vinegar, and oil. Gerard only speaks of it as an ornamental 
plant, he having received seeds from Italy and Spain ; and he 
probably alludes to the Egg Plant when he mentions a variety of 
the Tomato that had a long whitish fruit. 
Gerard stands also in the position of being the first English 
author who gave any definite account of the varieties of the 
Cabbage. As I have stated, for a long period of our history the 
English and Scotch only grew Kale or Colewort, of probably more 
than one kind, all the leaves expanded and coloured. In the reigns 
of Henry \ III. and Elizabeth hearted Cabbages, as a rarity, were 
brought into this island from Holland. On the tomb of Sir 
Anthony Ashley, at Wimborne, Dorsetshire, there is depicted some 
object, which has been taken to mean either a cannon ball or a 
Cabbage of the round-headed variety. The knight had been in the 
Low Countries, and it is known that there was a rivalry amongst the 
courtiers to_ get novelties ; and others say that the Flemings, who 
landed in 1561 at Sandwich, brought over the seeds of Cabbages 
and Cauliflowers. Gerard fully describes what he calls swollen 
Coleworts, perhaps Savoys, which his friend Lete obtained from 
France. He and otheis who mention the Cauliflower, first grown 
in England at the beginning of the seventeenth century, write the 
name “ Colefloury,” commonly supposed to mean a flowering 
Colewort; but it may have come from the Latin cauli.s, a stalk, 
and the verb fero, to bear. One of the reasons it appears why 
the growing of Cauliflowers was not very successful then was the 
neglect of the gardeners in not frequently manuring the crop. 
From Italy and Spain Gerard had seeds of what he calls Rapecole, 
a kind partaking of the nature of the Cole and the Turnip. I 
presume this was our Kohl Rabi. In Gerard’s time people ate it 
young, and when fully grown then as now gave it to cattle. 
Such, it appears, was the use to which Lentils were put in 
Gerard’s time. He saw them growing freely about Middlesex. If 
grown here during the Roman period they had been forgotten, and 
were re-introduced in 1548. The Scarlet Runner was not known 
to Gerard, but reached us in 1633 from South America. The seeds 
were sown at Lambeth by Tradescant or some friend of his, but 
it was only cultivated for ornament, and trained upon walls or over 
arbours. Its flowers were picked for nosegays. It was also grown 
as a perennial, which may be managed. It did not occur either to 
gardeners or the public that the pods might be eaten, until 1 
the days of Miller in the eighteenth century. Some suppose this 
was owing to a superstitious idea connected with the scarlet hue of 
the blossoms. Liquorice began to be cultivated early in the reign 
of Elizabeth, and the Pumpkin, or Pompion, also for a time called 
Melon, which has caused sundry errors, the true Melon being for 
a while styled the Musk Melon, and grown freely along the Thames 
on ground sheltered by the Surrey hills.—J. R. S. C. 
CINERARIA CULTURE. 
That the Cineraria will always meet with public favour is- 
beyond doubt, the comparative ease with which it can be grown 
insuring its popularity. It is generally grown from seed, but is- 
sometimes increased by offsets in order to perpetuate a particular 
variety, as no Cineraria can be relied upon to reproduce itself 
exactly from seed. The plant has, however, been brought to such 
perfection as to almost entirely do away with offset culture, the 
strains being so good that the seedlings are nearly always of high 
quality. 
Propagation by Offsets .—-When the plants have done blooming 
they should be cut down and stood in an open position on a bed of 
coal ashes. Water them moderately in dry weather, and as soon as 
the offsets appear and are large enough take them off with a sharp 
knife, being careful not to injure the roots, place them in thumb- 
pots, using rather a coarse sandy soil, stand them in a cold frame, 
and keep them well shaded from the sun for about a week, and a 
week longer from bright sunshine, when they will be found to be 
sufficiently rooted to be transferred to larger pots. By Seeds. —The 
best time to sow is in the months of May and June, but if an early 
display is requisite seed should be sown at once. It can be sown in 
pots, pans, or shallow boxes filled with light sandy soil, on which 
sow the seeds thinly, afterwards placing the pans on a shaded shelf 
in the greenhouse or in a cool frame. The seeds are not long in 
germinating, and as soon as the seedlings show their second leaf 
they may be placed singly in thumb pots, using the soil recom¬ 
mended, care being taken not to cover the hearts of the plants- 
They should be placed in a cold frame and sprinkled over the 
foliage night and morning in bright weather, where they may re¬ 
main until well established. As soon as the pots are filled with 
roots the plants should be transferred to 4 or 44-inch pots, and 
from these to the ones in which they are to bloom, which may be 
7, 8, or even 10-inch pots. 
Care should always be taken to grow the plants as robust as> 
possible, as if shaded too much or grown in too high a temperature 
they receive a great check, resulting in weak growth. Overcrowd¬ 
ing should also be guarded against. All suckers thrown up from 
the roots should be kept pinched off. As soon as the plants are 
coming into flower they will be greatly benefited by a little 
manure or soot water two or three times a week. 
Cinerarias succeed very well if potted in the following compost 
—equal parts of loam and leaf mould, and thoroughly decayed cow 
or horse manure, such as that from an old Mushroom bed, and a 
little coarse sand ; a little charcoal may also be added. Aphis and 
green fly are very liable to attack them. They should be kept 
under by fumigating with tobacco, performing the operation when 
the leaves of the plants are dry and also when the weather is still. 
Mildew is liable to appear after insufficient ventilation during damp- 
weather or where the plants have been kept too close to each 
other; if it makes its appearance dust the part affected with 
sulphur, and keep the foliage of the plant dry until the fungus, 
has disappeared.—A. G. Fkampton. 
NOTES ON POTATOES. 
EARLY SUNRISE. 
Permit me to state in reference to the dish of Early Potato Sunrise,, 
shown in my name at the meeting of the Royal Horticultural Society a 
fortnight since, that it was brought to the Show by Mr. Harry Turner, 
who had received it from a gardener ; and he delivered the Potato to¬ 
me, with the request that, as it is one of my own varieties, it should be 
exhibited in my name. This gardener—whose name I am unfortunately 
unable to give—informed Mr. Turner that he planted this and a few 
other early varieties in a frame about the middle of January, and the 
first week in April he was able to dig a dish of Sunrise fit for table, and 
in point of early maturation it completely distanced all others. I took 
the Potatoes home, had them cooked, and found them mealy, firm, 
and of agreeable flavour. It has thus established itself as a first early 
Potato, we 1 adapted for forcing in frames. Unfortunately I had no infor¬ 
mation at the meeting of the Society as to when the Potatoes were 
planted, and therefore I was unable to lay before the Committee any 
evidence as to its earliness. The gardener who tried it intends to depend 
upon it in the future as an early crop. Sunrise is a white variety, and 
is one of a batch of seedlings raised by my brother at Bedfont from 
Beauty of Hebron and Woodstock Kidney, the latter being the seed 
