546 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
June  24,  D97. 
Relative  to]  the  topening  of  the  Crystal  Palace  where  it  now 
stands,  we  find  the  following  allusions  in  our  issue  of  June  22nd, 
1854, 'and  which  may  be  appropriately  cited  : — “  The  spectacle  was 
not  to  be  forgotten.  On  the  central  platform  stood  a  Royal 
Family,  unequalled  by  any  of  its  contemporaries,  whether  as  an 
illustration  of  English  domestic  happiness,  or  as  an  example  of 
a  monarch  wisely  careful  to  promote  the  home  improvements 
and  pleasures  of  her  subjects.  Three  generations  were  in  the 
Royal  group,  and  no  one  could  look  upon  it  without  the  convic¬ 
tion  that  husband  and  wife,  child  and  parent,  were  examples  of 
reciprocal  affection.  It  spoke  out  in  every  action — from  the 
Queen’s  mother  placing  the  shawl  over  the  Queen’s  shou'ders, 
down  to  the  whispers  between  the  young  Princes  and  their  father  ; 
but  let  us  not,  in  the  admiration  of  our  Sovereign,  forget  the  great 
object  in  view — namely,  fostering  the  good  taste  and  good  habits 
of  the  least  wealthy  classes.”  This  is  what  the  Queen  has  always 
sought  to  do,  and  much  has  been  accomplished  through  the  agency 
of  the  pure,  wholesome,  intellectual  art  of  gardening. 
Recognising  the  intimate  connection  of  her  Majesty  with 
horticulture  over  a  much  longer  period  than  the  majority  of 
those  who  are  identified  with  the  ancient  art,  the  Journal  of 
Horticulture,  whose  jubilee  is  also  near,  and  as  reflecting  the 
desire  of  its  widely  scattered  constituents  in  the  British  Isles  and 
distant  Colonies,  desires  to  share  in  the  celebrations  of  the  present 
time  in  a  manner  not  inappropriate,  and  in  accordance  with  the 
precedent  of  ten  years  ago.  In  the  carrying  out  of  the  project 
on  a  more  extended  scale  than  on  that  occasion,  it  will  be  seen 
what  has  been  done  and  is  being  practised  in  the  gardens  of  the 
Queen  ;  and  in  order  that  the  narration  might  more  nearly 
approach  completeness  than  heretofore,  permission  was  sought  for 
the  requisite  facilities,  also  Royal  sanction  solicited  for  the  publi¬ 
cation  of  a  portrait  of  her  Majesty.  The  following  letter  from 
Lord  Edward  Pelham  Clinton,  K.C.B.,  will  show  how  readily  our 
requests  were  complied  with  : — 
Windsor  Castle,  February  27th,  1897. 
To  the  Editor  Journal  of  Horticulture. 
Sir, — In  reply  to  your  letter  of  the  17th  inst.  I  have  pleasure  in 
informing  you  that  the  Queen  has  graciously  granted  the  request 
contained  therein. 
With  regard  to  the  Royal  Gardens  here,  including  the  Slopes, 
Frogmore  Gardens  and  Adelaide  Cottage,  Mr,  Thomas,  who  has  already 
been  informed  of  the  wishes  expressed  in  your  letter,  will  afford  you 
every  facility  for  illustration  and  description. 
I  have  no  doubt  you  will  receive  every  assistance  for  the  same 
purpose  at  Buckingham  Palace,  Balmoral,  Osborne,  and  Hampton  Court 
by  producing  this  letter  ;  but  should  you  find  any  difficulty  I  shall  be 
very  glad  to  send  an  order  of  admission  to  the  different  places. 
I  beg  to  remain,  Sir, 
Very  faithfully  yours, 
Edward  Pelham  Clinton. 
Our  first  desire  is  to  express  publicly  our  grateful  appreciation 
of  the  privilege  so  graciously  accorded  by  her  Majesty,  and 
promptly  transmitted  by  the  Master  of  the  Household. 
In  appropriate  connection  with  the  descriptions  indicated  it  is 
proposed  to  associate  a  general  survey  of  horticulture  during  the 
last  sixty  years.  This  will  in  no  sense  be  a  formal  chronological 
record  of  events  obtained  by  literary  research  ;  but  rather  a  series 
of  personal  reminiscences,  fresh  from  the  fountain  of  memory,  by 
probably  the  only  person  living  who  could  have  provided  them  in 
the  same  interesting  and  entertaining  way — the  Rev.  H.  H. 
D’Ombrain,  to  whom  we  tender  at  once  our  congratulations  and 
obligations. 
The  present  issue  of  the  Journal  of  Horticulture  will  thus  be 
commemorative  of  a  great  historic  event — an  issue  such  as  its  readers 
will  be  glad  to  possess,  together  with  reminders  of  changes  and 
occurrences  in  gardening  during  the  period  which  it  covers  ;  while 
it  is  hoped  useful  lessons  will  be  embodied  as  derived  from  p-aotice 
in  the  Royal  Gardens,  which  has  proved  so  satisfactory  in  the 
various  departments.  Attractiveness  is  of  necessity  the  main 
feature  of  several  of  the  Royal  Establishments,  but  in  the  chief 
of  them  utility  is  also  present  in  its  severest  form,  the  value  of 
the  work  being  tested  by  exact  records,  comparison,  and  results. 
Before,  however,  describing  modern  practice,  concise  reference 
may  be  made  to  ancient  history,  and  some  contrasts  with  the 
present  will  not  be  overlooked. 
Windsor  Castle  Gardens  in  the  Past. 
From  tbe  scanty  information  which  can  be  gleaned  from  “  Tighe 
and  Davis’ Annals  of  Windsor  ”  it  may  safely  be  affirmed  that  gardens 
of  some  sort  have  existed  at  this  ancient  fortress  almost  from  the  time 
of  the  Norman  conquest.  We  are  fortified  in  this  affirmation  by  tbe 
first  historical  mention  we  have  of  a  garden  at  Windsor  Castle,  where  it 
is  Btated  that  King  Henry  III.  gave  the  Constable  of  the  Castle  instruc¬ 
tions  that  the  Church  should  have  tithes  of  the  Royal  Gardens,  Windsor. 
This  was  in  the  year  1231.  The  garden  must  have  been  in  existence 
long  before  this,  or  it  would  not  have  been  in  a  position  to  pay  tithe 
to  the  Church  out  of  produce  grown  and  sold  ;  and  in  the  absence  of 
evidence  to  the  contrary  it  may  fairly  be  said  that  the  Royal  Gardens 
have  paid  tithe  to  the  Church  regularly  from  that  long  time  until  the 
present  day. 
Henry  III.  seems  to  have  been  more  or  less  a  gardener  king,  for 
again  we  find  him  giving  instructions  that  a  garden  for  himself  and 
Queen  Mary  be  included  in  some  additions  made  by  him  to  the  Castle, 
and,  furthermore,  he  commands  that  the  house  of  the  gardener  and  the 
hedge  about  the  garden  are  to  be  repaired,  as  well  as  a  certain  plantation 
formed.  Later  on  the  King’s  projects  for  carrying  out  improvements  to 
the  Castle  were  for  the  time  stopped  by  financial  difficulties,  but  not  so 
his  ardour  for  improving  his  garden  ;  for  we  find  that,  in  face  of  these 
difficulties,  the  King  gives  instructions  that  a  fountain  of  freestone 
is  to  be  constructed  in  the  garden,  and  he  also,  at  the  same  time, 
commands  the  “custos”of  Cookham  and  Bray  to  turf  the  herbarium, 
to  complete  the  drain?,  and  to  make  a  well  in  the  garden. 
After  the  death  of  Henry  we  find  no  further  mention  of  a  garden  at 
the  Castle  until  Edward  III.’s  time — 1327 — when  we  come  across  the 
King’s  instructions  to  the  Constable  to  pay  John,  the  gardener  of  the 
King’s  garden  without  the  Castle,  twopence  halfpenny  per  day  ! 
Instructions  were  also  given,  at  the- same  time,  that  the  houses  and  walls 
of  the  King’s  garden  were  to  be  repaired.  We  may  wonder  what  sort 
of  houses  they  were  in  those  days.  AmoDg  the  relief  provided  by  the 
King  at  this  time  to  his  soldier  knights — who,  in  their  old  age,  had 
fallen  on  bad  times  and  decay — was  a  garden.  What  a  happy  thought ! 
Where  on  earth  are  greater  pleasure  and  consolation  found if 
Nearly  a  hundred  years  have  flown  before  we  again  come  across  any 
mention  of  a  garden  here.  This  time  it  is  associated  with  the  name  and 
memory  of  King  James  of  Scotland,  who  was  here  detained  a  prisoner 
by  Henry  V.  It  was  here,  and  at  this  time,  that  the  Scottish  King  saw 
from  his  prison  window  Joanna,  the  beautiful  daughter  of  the  Earl  of 
Sjmerset,  walking  in  the  garden  ;  with  her  he  fell  in  love,  and  they 
were  subsequently  married  It  was  here  King  James  composed  his 
beautiful  and  pathetic  poem — “  The  King’s  Quail.” 
In  1483  King  Edward  IV.  entertained  at  great  festivities  and  rejoic¬ 
ing  the  Governor  of  Holland  under  the  Duke  of  Burgundy,  who  had 
hospitably  rescued  him  from  pirates  when  the  king  had  been  forced  to 
leave  England  for  a  time  to  take  refuge  with  his  brother-in-law,  the 
above-mentioned  Duke,  and  one  of  the  last  items  on  the  programme 
was  the  King  showing  him  his  garden  and  vineyard  of  pleasure. 
Little  more  is  said  of  the  Garden  until  tbe  time  of  Queen  Elizabeth 
(1603),  when  it  is  mentioned  that  a  plan  had  been  drawn  for  a  new 
garden,  at  an  estimated  cost  of  £418  14s.  81.,  including  the  walks  and 
planting,  and  the  gardener’s  wages  at  this  time  were  stated  to  amount 
to  the  munificent  sum  of  £4  per  annnm.  The  next  news  we  hear  of 
the  Royal  Garden  is  in  the  time  of  James  I.,  when  it  seems  it  had  fallen 
on  bad  times,  as  it  was  given  or  leased  to  the  Corporation  of  Windsor 
for  ninety-niDe  years,  and  afterwards  for  another  term  of  forty-one 
years. 
In  Queen  Anne’s  reign  greater  attention  and  encouragement  seems  to 
have  been  given  to  gardening,  especially  the  planting  of  trees.  It  is  here 
stated  that  a  considerable  sum  was  expended  in  that  year  (about  1705), 
by  Henry  Wise  and  Michael  Strudbolme,  the  former  the  Superintendent 
of  the  GardtD,  tbe  latter  having  charge  of  the  construction  of  roads 
