Oct. 25th, 1884, 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
121 
RAILWAY ALLOTMENTS. 
The new tomb replaced an old monument erected 
by the widow of the second Tradescant to the memory 
of her father-in-law, husband and son in 1662, and 
which was purchased by Colonel and Lady North, and 
by them presented to the Ashmolean Museum in 
March, 1881. John Tradescant was a learned and 
industrious man, to whom we are mainly indebted 
for the introduction of botany into this kingdom. 
Parkinson informs us that so zealous was he in his 
love of horticulture that he entered himself on board 
a privateer going against the Algerines, so that he 
might have an opportunity of bringing Apricot trees 
from that country. In his travels he not only collected 
plants and seeds, but curiosities of every sort, which 
were preserved and added to by his son, who gave the 
collections to Elias Ashmole, thus forming the nucleus 
and foundation of the splendid Ashmolean Museum 
at Oxford. 
About 162'J John Tradeseantwas appointed gardener 
to Charles I. His industry and intelligence was in¬ 
herited by his son, who took a voyage to Virginia, 
whence he returned with many new plants. Father 
and son introduced a variety of curious species into 
this country, several of which bear their name. 
Tradescant’s Spiderwort is well known, and Linnaeus 
immortalized them by making it a new genus, 
Tradescantia. 
Tradescant’s house and gardens at South Lambeth 
were frequently visited by persons of rank, who 
patronized the gardener and aided him in his studies. 
Among those who were his benefactors were Charles I., 
Henrietta Maria, his Queen, Archbishop Laud, G-eorgo 
Duke of Buckingham, Robert and William Cecil, and 
many other persons of distinction. The philosophic 
John Evelyn also paid visits to Tradescant’s physic 
garden, and his “Diary” contains the following 
notice :—“ Sept. 17, 1657. I went to see Sir Itobert 
Needham at Lambeth, a relation of mine, and then to 
John Tradescant’s Museum.” 
It is said by no mean authority that John Trades¬ 
cant “ by great industry made it manifest that there 
is scarcely any plant existing in the known world 
that will not with proper care thrive in our climate.” 
In 1749 Sir W. Watson and Dr. Mitchell paid a 
visit to the site of Tradescant’s garden. It had been 
then for many years neglected, but though the garden 
was covered with weeds there yet remained many 
marks of its founder. They found there Borago 
latifolia sempervirens, Polygonatum vulgare lati- 
folium, and Aristolochia clematitis. There where then 
remaining two trees of the Arbutus, which, from 
being so long used to our winters, did not suffer from 
the severe cold of 1739-40, when most of their kind in 
England were killed. In the orchard there was a tree 
of Rhamnus catharticus about 20 ft. high and nearly 
a foot in diameter. 
In the Ashmolean Library at Oxford is preserved 
a folio manuscript, probably in the handwriting of 
the elder Tradescant, which purports to be “ The 
Tradescants’ Orchard, illustrated in sixty-five 
coloured drawings of fruits, exhibiting various kinds 
of the Apple, Cherry, Damson, Gooseberry, Peares, 
Peaches, Plums, Nectarines, Grape, Hasell-nutt, 
Quince, Strawberry, with the time of their ripening.” 
The memory of the Tradescants is not likely to 
fade. The splendid Ashmolean Museum will always 
recall its first founders, the tomb in St. Mary’s 
Churchyard will ever attract notice by its quaint 
epitaph, and not long since a new “ Tradescant 
Road” at South Lambeth was named in honour of 
the famous botanists whose house and garden in that 
locality has long since disappeared.— B. 
The utilization of the margins and embankments of 
railways for garden purposes is a question of moment 
for the public at large, but it is of especial importance 
to the railway companies and their empknjis. The 
area under cultivation must amount in the aggregate 
to some thousands of acres, and these, under 
proper cultivation (as they are very generally), 
add no inconsiderable item to the food supply 
of the country. But a well-managed railway plot 
of the average size adds from 5 to 10 per cent, to 
the guard or porter’s weekly wage, and furnishes at 
the same time just the kind of healthy exercise and 
employment that is best suited for his leisure. We 
were led to these remarks from a brief inspection of 
the garden allotments on the Metropolitan Railway 
between West Hampstead and Harrow. Long 
stretches of garden-ground occur at short intervals 
for the whole of the distance. The average plot is 
about 10 poles in area, in some cases however, where 
the exigencies of a large family demand it, more is 
undertaken. Although the land is heavy, as is usual 
in the basin of the Thames, there is plenty of heart 
in it, and, when thoroughly trenched in autumn and 
well worked and kept clear of weeds in spring and 
summer, it produces excellent crops of Potatos, Green 
Stuff, Beans, and Turnips. 
The Metropolitan Railway Company exercise a wise 
liberality in this matter, for all their allotments are 
rent free. On other railways a charge of 4 d. to 6 d. 
a pole is made, and paid too, we have no doubt, 
ungrudgingly, when we consider that the charge 
amounts only to a fraction more than a penny per 
week per 10-pole plot. We were unable to ascertain 
the exact number of the whole of the tenants of these 
plots, but from the fact that of twenty-two servants 
employed at Harrow on the station, in the locomotive 
department, and permanent way, exactly twenty have 
gardens, we may learn something of the value attached 
to them by the men. The selection of plots rested at 
first with the men, now the rule is for the new-comtr 
to take the plot occupied by his predecessor. Tie 
Potato harvest this year was unusually good, and 
sufficient, as a rule, to serve the family needs till it 
is time to dig the new ones. The only difficulty is 
with regard to manure; of course this has to be 
purchased and carted to the nearest point to the 
garden, from thence it has to be carried in baskets, 
frequently over tall railed fences and some distance 
along the permanent way. It is pleasant to see the 
men busily at work in the early spring, when the 
Potatos are put in, and one scarcely recognizes in 
the worker in shirt-sleeves the smart officer in the 
company’s uniform who bids us a smiling “ Good 
morning !” as we pass the barrier, but there is some 
thing in gardening, we presume, which dispenses 
with dyspepsia and the other ills to which sedentary 
employments are prone .—Luke Ellis. 
