NINETEENTH CENTURY 
269 
which weighed ig| pounds, and measured 20 inches in dia¬ 
meter. It was sent by the Duke of Portland to the Marquess 
of Rockingham, carried by men, like the spies returning from 
the promised land. Early in this century a vine was brought 
from abroad and planted at Cannon Hall, Yorkshire, which 
has since produced the well-known variety bearing that name. 
Haynes wrote on the strawberry, gooseberry, and raspberry. 
The strawberry was being much improved, and new and large 
varieties were produced by crossing the Virginian with the 
Chilian, a species introduced early in the eighteenth century. 
Old-fashioned gardens still retained the hautboy (Fragaria 
elatior) ,now so rarely to be seen, having been entirely superseded 
by the larger American species, but it still held its own during 
the first half of the nineteenth century. In 1848 “ Myatt’s 
new Fertilized Hautboy strawberry ” received much praise, 
although about the same time “ Myatt’s British Queen ” was 
accounted the best strawberry grown. This Myatt was a well- 
known nurseryman, and vegetables brought out by him are 
still in commerce, such as “ Myatt’s ash-leaf ” potato. His 
name will remain familiar to Londoners, who know nothing of 
the worth of his produce, from “ Myatt’s Fields/’ the public 
park in Camberwell, on the site of his nursery garden. He 
greatly improved many fruits and vegetables, and grew the 
“ Victoria ” plum, which he found as a seedling in a cottage 
garden in Sussex. Gooseberries were in high favour, and new 
varieties made their appearance every season, and the sizes 
and weights of the berries were carefully compared and 
recorded. 1 
Pineapples were grown in all large gardens where hot-houses 
were kept up. The process necessary to produce pines was 
both lengthy and costly. The usual method took three years, 
and the “New Providence ” and other very large varieties 
required this treatment. The first year was passed in the 
“ propagation or nursing pit,” the next in the “ successive 
pit,” and the third in the fruiting-house, which had to be 
larger, and kept at a higher temperature. The shorter or 
" Biennial course,” specially suited to the " Queen ” pine, was 
1 See Midland Florist and Horticulturist , conducted by John Frederick 
Wood, 1847 and following years. 
