MONASTIC GARDENING 
21 
time, so great was the demand for this fruit. Perhaps it was 
the too frequent use of it that suggested to Necham the advisa¬ 
bility of warning his readers that “ cherries, mulberries, and 
grapes should be eaten fasting, and not after a meal.” 1 
The third department, of the “ Garden Warder,” must now 
be considered. It has been already pointed out that vines were 
grown by the Romans in Britain, and, with the exception of the 
gap immediately following Roman rule, their history is con¬ 
tinuous. Tradition points to a place called Vine, in Hamp¬ 
shire, as having taken its name from the vines planted there 
during the time of the Emperor Probus. Vines, the “ Wines- 
treow,” are noticed as boundaries or landmarks at several places 
in Saxon charters of the tenth century, and these might have 
been survivals of Roman vineyards. 2 
Bede, writing early in the eighth century, says that Britain 
“ excels for grain and trees ... it also produces vines in some 
places.” 3 In the laws of Alfred, 4 which were chiefly compila¬ 
tions of existing ones, it was notified that anyone who 
“ damaged the vineyard or field of another should give com¬ 
pensation.” In the tenth century King Edwy confirmed the 
grant of a vineyard at Pathenesburgh, in Somerset, to the 
Abbey of Glastonbury. The grapes were gathered in October, 
and that month was called “ Winter filling moneth,” or “ Wyn 
moneth,” another proof of the extent to which vines were 
cultivated. The pruning of the vine took place in February. 
The picture of vine-pruners taken from an Anglo-Saxon MS. 
in the British Museum illustrates that month in the calendar. 
Necham devotes a chapter of his De Naturis Rerum to the 
vine, but he chiefly moralizes, and does not treat his subject in 
its practical sense. He records that in gathering grapes, having 
reached the final row, the workers in the vineyard break into a 
song of rejoicing, but, unfortunately, he does not satisfy a 
natural curiosity by handing down the words of their chant. 
1 Necham, De Naturis Rerum. 
2 Kemble’s Codex Diplomatics, vol. v. 
MCXLVI. Eadmund, 943. Lechamstide. 
MCLXXVII. Ealdred, 949. Boxoram. 
MCXCVIII. Eadwig, 956. Welligforda, &c. 
3 Bede, Hist. Eccle. gentis Anglorum, ed. 1848, p. 108. 
4 LL. Saxon., Wilkins, p. 31. LL. Aelf., 26. 
