321 
N. 
One of the wine merchants, who purchased above six hundred pounds worth, 
sold the wine at ten and sixpence the bottle, so greatly was it prized. 
So much for the production of wine in England; and let it be ever 
remembered, that history tells us, that the country of France , now so 
like a real Paradise, from the cultivation of its vines, figs, and olives, was 
once so barren and unproductive, that its inhabitants were resolved on 
emigration/ when some of the wiser part proposed the conquest of Italy , 
which they invaded, and carried back their vines, transporting them to Gallia, 
where they have been so successfully cultivated, as to exceed in generous 
wines not only Italy and Greece, but all Europe and Asia beside. 
We cannot have a stronger proof how foreign plants assimilate to our 
soil and climate, than in the success of the Potatoe , now so generally 
cultivated in Europe; a plant which was actually pointed out, in the 10th 
century, as a curiosity in our gardens. Gerard, in 1507, informs us, that 
he received roots of it from Virginia, and it grew and prospered in his 
garden as in his own native country. He calls it the American Potatoe, to 
distinguish it from the Spanish Potatoe (Convolvulus Batatas), which 
was then better known, and called so from a corruption of the Spanish 
Battalas. 
The Fig (Ficus), a native of Asia, has been cultivated in England ever 
since the year 1502. The oldest fig-tree standing in England may be seen 
in the garden at the archbishop’s palace at Lambeth. It still bears delicious 
fruit. It extends over a surface of fifty feet in height, and forty in breadth. 
It was planted by Cardinal Pole in the time of Henry VIII. In the garden 
of the Regius Professor of Hebrew at Oxford is a fig-tree brought from the 
East, and planted by Dr. Pocock in 1048, which is still flourishing and 
productive. 
The Pear (Pyrus Communis), in its wild state, is thorny. Chaucer 
mentions the pear as common, even in his time, in England. 
The Apple (Pyrus Malus), in its savage state, is also armed with 
thorns, and produces the well-known sour fruit called tne Crab « It was 
from the enterprize of one Harris, a fruiterer to Henry VIII. that, says 
Evelyn, the environs, thirty miles round London, are planted with fiuit 
from Flanders, to the great benefit of the metropolis. It was Lord 
* This account may be seen in Evelyn, Vol. II. p. t>2. 
4 M 
