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into England was due to the great Lord Chancellor Bacon, who planted 
those still flourishing at Verulam.* 
We can trace, nearly, the introduction of almost every useful plant into 
Great Britain. To proceed. Of the Hop (Humulus Lupulus). The young 
shoots of this plant are eaten in the spring as asparagus. It is used by the 
dyer to dye wool yellow: from the stalks a strong cloth may be made; 
but its chief use is to bitter, by its strobile, beer, so that it may keep, and 
taste more pleasant. This plant was first cultivated here in 1524, the 15th 
year of Henry VIII. It prospered exceedingly; and we find a book soon 
after in black letter recommending its culture. The author, Reynolde Scott, 
complains, in his “ Perfite Platforme of a Hoppe Garden that “ the Flemmings 
envy our practice herein, who altogither tende their own profite, seeking 
to impownde us in ignorance, to cramme us with the wares and fruits of 
their countrie, and doe anye thing that myght put impediment to our 
cultivating the hoppe, discommending our soyle and climate, sending us to 
Flaunders for that which we can finde better at home.” 
* At Shadwell Lodge, in the county of Norfolk, the seat of John Buxton, Esq. there may be 
seen a Plane-tree, which is remarkable for its speedy growth. When planted in April 1744 , it was 
eight feet high, and when measured in April 1755, the following were its dimensions: 
Feet. Inches. 
Height... 65 : 9 
Circumference at half a foot from the ground... 7 : 9 
At five feet... 5 : 6 
At ten feet. 5 : 0 
At sixteen feet. 4 : g§ 
At twenty feet. 4 : q 
The oriental Plane-tree was greatly respected by the ancients for its cooling shade: 
Jamque ministrantem Platanum potantibus umbram. Virg. 
And so great was their veneration for it, that in the height of their enthusiasm they used to refresh 
its roots with wine instead of water. Tantumque postea honoris increvit, ut rnero infuso enutriantur: 
compertum id maxime prodecesse radicibus ; docuimusque etiam arbores vina potare. Plin. 
In the Academia, or School of Plato, the philosophers used to walk and converse together 
under the shade formed by these delightful trees ; to which custom Horace alludes : 
Atque inter Silvas Academi qucerere verum. Lib. ii. 2 . 
Pliny informs us that this tree was first brought over the Ionian Sea into the island of Diomedes 
for a monument to that hero: thence it passed into Sicily, and so into Italy, where it has continued 
ever since to give coolness and refreshment to the inhabitants in the height of summer. 
