“A SHELF OF OLD GARDENING BOOKS” 
By P. H. Ditchfield, M.A., F.S.A. 
T HE gardener loves his books, as well as his flowers; 
and when the wintry snow falls fast he likes to 
pile the oak logs higher in his study grate, and reach 
down those inviting old volumes which tell him of the 
garden-lovers of old time, and try to understand their 
manners, thoughts and methods. On this shelf 
we shall discover many old friends whose forms and 
faces are familiar, and here and there make new 
acquaintances who are not wholly to be despised. 
Here is the first regular treatise on gardening, 
written by one Thomas Hill, who was born within 
the sound of Bow Bells, but lived at a time when Lon¬ 
don houses had gardens, and long before excessive 
smoke made it difficult for flowers to raise their 
heads and preserve their complexions. This copy 
is printed in black letter, and bears the date 1560. 
Alas! it lacks the title page, and some wretch has cut 
out one of the quaint figures of a maze which the 
author declares to he “ proper adournments upon 
pleasure to a garden—for the only purpose to sporte 
them at times. For Mazes and knottes aptly made, 
do much set forth a garden, which nevertheless I 
referre to your discretion, for that not all persons 
be of the like abilitie.” 
Happily one of the figures of a maze has been 
spared and is here introduced. Mazes were once an 
ordinary feature of old-fashioned gardens, and were 
not confined to such historic orounds as those of 
O 
Hampton Court. Kitchen herbs often flourished in 
the divers borders of a maze, which was therefore 
intended to be useful as well as ornamental. In 
a subsequent work, the “Gardener’s Labyrinth,” our 
author returned to the study of the maze. This 
work was published after his death in 1577, by Henry 
Dethicke. 
Hill’s book is not a very perfect work, but it cer¬ 
tainly marked an advance in horticultural knowledge. 
He writes of “the pleasure very delectable through 
the delight of walking in a garden, which both giveth 
health to man’s body and recoverie of strength after 
long sickness by commoditie of taking fresh ayre 
and sweet smell of the flowers in the same.” He 
recommends that the garden should be on a slope 
with courses of water flowing through it. He tells 
us “how a garden may divers wayes be fenced and 
enclosed, and the manner and secret of making a 
lively and strong hedge,” recommending one com¬ 
posed of briars and thorns. 
LONGFORD CASTLE AND GARDEN 
129 
