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the country. Walter Blith, author of The English Improver , 
or a New Survey of Husbandry , 1649, was another " Lover of 
Ingenuity,” as he styled himself, and he also impressed upon 
his countrymen the advantages of planting orchards, and 
urged those in other parts of England to copy what was done 
in the West of England, and to plant " the Vine, the Plumb, 
the Cherry, Pear, and Apple” ; he advises also " the more 
planting of cabbage, carrot, onion, parsnip, artichoak, and 
Turnep.” 
These led the way, and other Agriculturists followed this 
good example, and tried by their writings to give a stimulus to 
the industry of market-gardening. Ralph Austen, in 1653, 
wrote a Treatise on Fruit Trees, and dedicated it to Plartlib. 
The first part of his work, full of arguments in favour of garden¬ 
ing and fruit culture, based on scriptural authority, and inter¬ 
spersed with texts, is typical of the puritanical style of the 
times. In another of his works, The Spiritual Use of an 
Orchard or Garden of Fruit Trees , this is carried to such excess 
that there is but little information about gardening, although 
every process, grafting, transplanting, and so on, is compared 
to some stage in a Christian’s life. This puritanical spirit is 
also apparent in the title of Adam (or Adolphus) Speed’s book, 
in 1659, Adam out of Eden , and the rest of the title-page is 
indicative of the practical side of these writers. It runs thus : 
" Shewing Among very many other things, An Approvement 
of Ground by Rabbies ( = rabbits) from £200 annual Rent to 
£2,000 yearly profit all charges deducted.” But how this feat 
was to be accomplished it is needless to go into ! 
During the Commonwealth, gardening was treated from a 
more practical point of view ; what would pay best to cultivate 
was considered, and how the soil could be most improved 
and made more fruitful. Not many gardens were laid out, and 
many of the existing ones suffered during the wars, especially 
the Royal Gardens. Nonsuch and Wimbledon were sold, and a 
survey made of Hampton Court, with a view to selling it, in 
1653, but the order was "stayed until Parliament ” took "further 
notice,” and it was left untouched. The absence of large 
new gardens is more marked when compared with the numbers 
which appear to have been laid out after the Restoration. 
