-May SO, 1839. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
433 
•absent, veft in our own case Grapes have never set better, notwith¬ 
standing the fact that we have with nearly all varieties dispensed 
with the artificial aid previously thought necessary. Muscats, 
which in past seasons have been carefully dusted each day with a 
rabbit-tail, have received no other attention than tapping the 
rods two or three times daily, except in the case of the largest 
bunches, which often show a tendency to set imperfectly at the 
points,, however well the other part of the bunch may have set, 
which is probably owing to their being too far from the glass to get 
the benefit of sun and light. When the points of bunches have to 
be removed, in consequence of being improperly set, it not only 
reduces the size of the bunches, but in many cases spoils their fine 
tapering proportions. With the object of trying to avoid this 
defect we drew the hands lightly down the points of the 
largest bunches, taking the usual precaution of tying a few 
leaves on one side to admit direct light. I know that experienced 
men have at times spoken strongly against using the hands as a 
means of setting Grapes, giving as their reason that the horny 
hands usually found among the workers in forcing houses are quite 
unsuitable for so delicate an operation. Granted that the hands 
used for the purpose may neither be of delicate mould nor sensitive 
touch, yet after they have been passed over a bunch or two the 
pollen which adheres to them renders them quite soft and silky, 
and, as far as my observation goes, the bunches operated on before 
the hand becomes coated with pollen are never injured if ordinary 
care is exercised, and I regard it as one of the most certain methods 
•of setting Grapes. 
Another objection urged against the practice is, that where the 
hand is used a small brown spot is often produced on the crown 
point of Muscat berries. This is, I believe, a fallacy, as after 
careful examination I have not been able to find a single spot upon 
any of the bunches so treated this year. My opinion is that we 
must look to other causes to account for the unwelcome brown 
spots that at times so disfigure the berries of nearly all varieties of 
white Grapes, and if I am not mistaken the true cause lies in 
•sluggish root action or a too low temperature and moist atmosphere. 
Alnwick Seedling cannot be depended on to set perfectly with¬ 
out artificial aid of some kind or other. Occasionally they may do 
so, but in many cases when left to themselves they produce num¬ 
bers of imperfectly set berries, which never advance beyond the 
first swelling ; but by passing the rabbit’s tail over the bunches 
■once a day a good set can always be secured, provided other con¬ 
ditions are favourable. Large bunches of Gros Guillaume and 
Mrs. Pince require the same attention as that given to Muscats to 
secure bunches well set at the points. If Vines were kept in a 
mure healthy and active condition at the roots by ascertaining the 
true state of the borders before water is given we should hear 
fewer complaints of the shy-setting propensity of certain varieties 
of Grapes. A true method of testing the state of a Vine border is 
to thrust an iron rod into the border to a depth of 18 inches or 
2 feet. If, when the rod is withdrawn, the soil adhering to it is 
slightly dry water is required ; if wet and pasty, and the border 
perhaps only thinly permeated with roots, why should water be 
given any more than in the case of a pot Vine, with the soil in a 
similar condition ? We have had so much dull weather during the 
last twelve months that Vines have required much less water at the 
roots than I have ever known them to do during a similar period 
before, and I opine that those cultivators who have examined their 
borders carefully, and when water was found necessary were 
careful to use it at a temperature at least as high as that in which 
the Vines were growing, will, in the coming season, be amply 
rewarded for their careful attention.—H. Dunkin. 
NOTES ON EARLY ENGLISH HORTICULTURE. 
(Continued from page 331.') 
Everybody has read of instances showing how history repeats 
itself, and this is often the case in the annals of horticulture. What is 
•one of the troubles, perhaps the chief trouble, vexing the spirit of 
the English cultivator of vegetables and fruit for the market in 
■the present day ? The pressure of foreign competition, which 
forces down prices, and, by anticipating our native products, 
renders many of these not worth growing or sending to market. 
In the sixteenth, and in part of the seventeenth century, we dis¬ 
cover that a complaint of a similar character was made by some of 
the persons who gave attention to horticulture. They refer to the 
import of vegetables, fruit, and shrubs too, from Holland, France, 
or other parts of the Continent, and regret that these could not 
be raised upon this island by their countrymen. Certainly there 
was a difference then, the foreign goods did not come in cheaply, 
for the transit was slow and expensive, also the neglect shown by 
English gardeners at that time arose from an ignorance which does 
not exist now. Not a few valuable plants and trees were growing 
about old gardens or in the open country, but little heed was taken 
of them, and when new kinds were brought over our predecessors 
made sad mistakes frequently in their management. 
Our national indebtedness to the Flemings, who took refuge 
in England during the reign of Henry VIII. I have already noted, 
as nursery gardening in particular was almost unknown in England 
till their arrival, also they introduced many new plants. That 
their influence crept but slowly over the land is accounted for by 
the difficulties of transit, and the historic reluctance of the English 
mind to adopt changes ; moreover, the persons who had oppor¬ 
tunities for making horticultural experiments were not numerous. 
The annals of Norwich, however, tell us that Dutch visitors ex¬ 
ercised an influence there about as soon as they did in the 
metropolis, and flower gardens were to be seen in that town early 
in the seventeenth century. Indeed, the cultivators of flowers at 
Norwich were sufficiently strong in numbers to have a florist’s 
feast or entertainment in 1637, when part of the programme con¬ 
sisted of a play called “ Rhodon and Iris,” in which flowers are 
personified. And as the Dutch weavers gradually spread them¬ 
selves amongst the manufacturing towns they took with them a 
taste for flowers, which they diffused. At that time, though 
Holland, as a country, had probably more proficients in gardening 
than any ocher land, it had very few authors who had written upon 
the subject, and even up to this hour, while holding its own in 
horticulture, it is not the parent of any large number of books upon 
the subject, the practical knowledge of the Dutch gardener seldom 
leading him to take up the pen. One peculiarity of the Dutch 
nurseries which our forefathers imitated, but which we do not 
follow now, was the practice of shifting both fruit and forest trees 
from one spot to another when they had attained some size, and 
therefore considerable roots. 
About this time Hudson, the Lord High Chamberlain, was 
devoting what spare moments he could command to collecting 
and rearing curious exotics, of which he had many owing to his 
connection with the court. He is named by Gerarde as one 
“ deserving of triple honours.” Then there was Sir Francis Carew 
of Beddington, who used to surprise Queen Elizabeth by keeping 
back the fruit of a Cherry tree for some weeks, his method being 
to encase the whole tree with canvas, which he moistened occasionally. 
By this means he got large fruit, and when he removed the cover a 
few days’ sun ripened the Cherries. His garden is said to have 
been the first in which the Orange tree was planted, he having 
obtained plants from Italy in or before 1595. Of late, however, 
doubt has arisen whether he was the introducer of the Orange. 
The trees at Beddington were in the open ground, but, placed 
against a wall, they were screened in winter, and grew well till 
killed by the great frost of 1739. Henry, Earl of Danby, was the 
originator of the first botanic garden for the public. He gave five 
acres of land at Oxford in 1639 to be thus set apart, upon which 
Loudon remarks houses and stoves were erected, but the stoves 
belong to a later period I think. And the greenhouses of the 
seventeenth century had only a limited amount of glass in the sides 
or roof, as is evident from the common practice of using them as 
sitting rooms in the summer, plants being generally placed in them 
during the winter months only. It was also the plan to put tender 
plants in cellars when the weather became cold. Of course all lost 
their leaves, but some survived to grow again in spring. Laurels 
and other evergreens presumed to be delicate were left in the 
ground to be defended from wind and frost by woollen wraps or 
blankets. The pioneer of all English books descriptive of flowers 
seems to have been Platt’s “Flora’s Paradise Beautified,” which 
bears the date of 1608. In this are contained some sensible re¬ 
marks on gardening, but as astrology is introduced flowers and stars 
are commingled in a curious way. Evidently he had a great liking 
for Pinks, Carnations, and Tulips. It was about four years before 
this that his friend Coys of Slubbers, in Essex, who was a collector 
of exotic plants, had succeeded in producing the Yuccas, which 
were the first to adorn an English garden with their flowers. Sir 
Hugh Platt was a lawyer by profession, and wrote several books on 
gardening, botany, and science. Atone time resident in St. Martin’s 
Lane, Charing Cross, he had afterwards a house with a large garden 
at Bethnal Green or near it, where he tried a variety of experi¬ 
ments which he afterwards recommended to his many friends, some 
of little utility, such as cutting down Beans to raise a second crop 
from the same plants. Very likely Platt wa3 one of the persons 
reflected upon by William Lawson, who in his “ New Orchard and 
Garden,” condemned what he called “ conceits,” such as planting 
with the roots upwards in some cases, grafting Roses upon Thorns, 
&c. Lawson, who seems to have been a busy gardener all through 
the first half of the sixteenth century, discoursed on the manner 
of laying out a garden, the arrangement of “ knots and plots,” the 
best way of growing herbs, and tie culture of fruit trees, so as to 
secure abundant crops. One of the notions prevalent at this time 
