14 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
July  3,  1902. 
Old-time  Gardening. 
( Continued  from  pa/je  517.) 
It  is  now  proper  that  a  most  remarkable  book  cn  rural  and 
domestic  economy  should  receive  some  attention.  I  refer  to 
Tusser’s  “Five  Hundred  Points  of  Husbandry/’  &c.,  and  as 
gardening  is  not  largely  treated  of  till  the  edition  of  1573,  I  shall 
confine  the  remarks  to  be  made  entirely  to  that.  Fuller  truly 
says  of  Tusser  that  he  “  was  successively  a  musician,  schoolmaster, 
servingman,  husbandman,  grazier,  poet,  more  skilful  in  all  than 
thriving  in  any  vocation — whether  he  bought  or  sold  he  lost.” 
Yet  his  books  are  crammed  with  advice  of  the  shrewdest,  inter¬ 
spersed  with  the  fullest  details  of  the  various  aspects  of  country' 
life  as  led  by  the  better-class  farmer  in  some  of  the  southern  and 
eastern  counties. 
Probably  the  most  valuable  portion  of  the  book,  from  the 
horticultural  standpoint,  are  the  lists  of  fruits,  vegetables,  and 
flowers  considered  necessary  by  our  author.  In  the  January 
abstract  the  following  list  of  fruits  is  given : — “  Apple  trees  of  all 
sorts,  Apricokes,  herberies,  bollese  (bullace)  black  and  white, 
Cherries,  red  and  black,  Chestnuts,  Cornet  Plums  (perhaps  a  mis¬ 
print,  for  ‘cornel/  Cornus  mas),  Damisens  (Damsons)  white  and 
black,  Filberts  red  and  white,  Gooseberries,  Grapes  white  and 
red,  grene  or  grass  Plums,  Hurtelberries  (Vaccinium  vitis-idaea, 
Medlars,  Ormerles,  Mulberries,  Peaches,  white,  red,  and  yellow' 
fleshed  ;  Peres  of  all  sorts,  Peer-Plums  black  and  yellow.  Quince 
trees,  Raspe-s,  Reisons  (Red  Currants),  small  Nuts,  Strawberies 
red  and  white,  Service  trees,  Wardens  white  and  red  ;  Wallnuts, 
Wheat  (white),  Plums.” 
Lists  of  flowers  and  vegetables  are  printed  in  the  March 
Abstract.  They  are  divided  into  sections,  thus :  “  Seeds  and 
Herbes  for  the  Kitchin,”  “  Herbes  and  Rootes  for  Sallets  and 
Sauce,”  “  Strowing  Hearbs  of  all  Sorts,”  “  Herbs,  Branches,  and 
Flowers  for  Windows  and  Pots,”  ‘  Herbs  to  Still  in  Summer,”  and 
“  Necessarie  Herbes  to  Grow  in  the  Garden  for  Physic  not 
Rehersed  Before.”  To  detail  the  whole  of  these  lists  would 
occupy  too  much  space. 
However,  it  may  be  said  of  the  first,  those  employed  in  the 
composition  of  pottage — a  mess  of  meats  and  vegetables,  and 
sometimes  oatmeal — that  forty-six  are  named,  of  which  exactly 
half  the  number  are  weeds  or  indigenous  flow’ers.  The  second  list 
contains  those  for  cooking  as  dishes,  or  for  consumption  as  salads, 
cooked  or  uncooked,  or  as  pickles,  and  comprises  twenty  kinds, 
eight  of  w'hich  also  occur  in  the  first  list.  Cucumbers  and  Melons 
are  included,  and  of  the  following  he  remarks  : — “  These  buie  with 
the  penie,  or  looke  not  for  anie.”  “  Capers,  Lemmons,  Olives, 
Orenges,  Rise,  Samphire.”  The  third  list  is  a  short  one,  com¬ 
prising  “Beans,  Cabbages,  Carrots,  Citrons  (Citruls).  Gourds, 
Marews  (a  long-rooted  Turnip),  Pompion  (Pumpkin),  Parseneps, 
Runcivall  Pease  (an  early  variety  which  can  be  traced  through 
four  centuries),  Rape,  and  Tumeps.” 
The  fourth  list  of  “  strowing  ”  herbs  are  nearly  all  aromatic. 
It  includes  Daisies,  Roses,  Violets,  Cowslips,  and  Pagles  (Poly¬ 
anthus).  The  remainder,  sixteen  in  number,  are  still  almost  all 
in  cultivation  as  “  herbs.”  At  this  period  they  were  in  request 
to  sprinkle  over  certain  cooked  dishes  ;  to  adorn  nuptial  couches, 
as  in  “  Spenser’s  Epithalamion  ”  : — 
Now  tning  the  Bryde  into  the  Brydall  boures. 
The  night  is  come,  now  soon  her  disarray, 
And  in  the  bed  her  lay. 
Lay  her  in  Lilies  and  in  Violets, 
And  silken  courteins  over  her  display. 
The  “  Winter’s  Tale  ”  contains  a  reference  of  a  like  nature.  But 
apartments  also  were  strowed  with  flowers,  and  on  special 
occasions  the  very  streets. 
Strowe  we  the  ground  with  Daffadowndillies,  <fcc. 
The  fifth  list,  consisting  of  flowers,  is  of  the  greatest  im¬ 
portance,  detailing  as  it  does  the  flowers  that  were  popular 
previous  to  the  influx  of  exotics  that  commenced  about  this  time 
We  also  gather  inferentially  that  the  floral  decoration  of  houses 
was  even  then  provided  for,  though  we  know  that  decorating 
churches  had  been  discontinued.  Nor  does  it  appear  that  flowers 
were  worn  on  the  person,  as  they  certainly  were  at  an  earlier 
period,  and  again  in  the  next  century.  This  book  on  these 
accounts  is  so  replete  with  interest  that  it  tempts  me  to  adventure 
cn  the  good  nature  of  the  Editor  to  let  it  be  printed,  rejecting, 
however,  some  of  the  detail.  It  is  as  follows  : — 
“  Baies,  Batchelor’s  Buttons,  Bottles  (Centaurea.  Cyanus) 
blewe,  red  and  tawnie,  Collumbines,  Campions  (Agrostemma 
coronaria),  Cowslips,  Daffodondillies  (including  Narcissus  biflorus. 
and  perhaps  poeticus),  Eglantine,  Fetherfew,  Flower  Armour 
(Floramor,  or  Prince’s  Feather),  Flower  de  luce  (Iris  Florentina), 
Flower-gentle  white  and  red  (Lyte  refers  to  three  plants  under 
this  name — Amaranthus  hypochondriacus,  A.  caudatus,  and 
Atriplex  hortensis),  Flow  er  nice  ( ?),  Gilleflowers  red,  white,  and 
carnation ;  Hollihocks  red,  white,  and  carnation ;  Indian  Eie 
(here  Tagetes  erecta),  Lavender  (includes  Santolina  ch  am  se¬ 
cy  parissas),  Larksfoot  (Delphinium  consolida),  Laus  tibr(P) 
Lilium  convallium  (Lily  of  the  Valley),  Lillies,  red  and  white 
(Lilium  croceum  and  L.  candidum),  Marigolds,  double,  Nigeria 
Romana  (N.  sativa),  Paoncies,  or  Hearts-ease,  Pagles,  green  and 
yellow  (Polyanthus),  Pinks  of  all  sorts,  Queen’s  Gilloflower.s 
(Hesperis  matronalis).,  Rosmarie,  Roses  of  all  sorts,  Snag-Dragons 
(Antirrhinums),  Sops-in-Wine  (three  plants  at  this  date  were  so- 
called,  namely,  Trifolium  purpureum,  Medicago  sativa,  and  a 
single  Carnation,  the  last-named,  doubtless,  Tusser’s  plants); 
Sweet  William,  Sweet  John  (a  kind  of  the  plant  last  named).  Star 
of  Bethlehem,  Ornithogalum,  Star  of  Jerusalem,  (Tragopogon 
pratensis),  Stocke  Gilloflower  (Matthiola  incana),  Tuft  Gilio- 
flower,  Dianthus  prolifer?  Violets,  yellow  and  black,  and 
Wall  Gillofloures  of  all  sorts  (Wallflowers).  The  other  lists  are  of 
no  importance,  being  nearly  all  weeds. — B. 
Coronation  Memorial  Trees. 
The  latest  intelligence  from  Buckingham  Palace  raises  the 
hope  that  the  Coronation  of  His  Majesty  is  only  deferred  for  a 
time,  and  that  in  the  early  autumn  we  shall  yet  celebrate  that 
unique  and  joyful  event.  Be  it  so,  and  the  trees  so  long  pre¬ 
pared  and  kept  for  the  intended  midsummer  planting  will  be 
brought  forward  in  far  greater  numbers  than  they  would  have 
been  in  June.  That  we  shall  all  plant  yet,  is  our  God-confiding 
hope. 
The  illustration  of  trees  intended  as  memorials  to  be  planted 
on  Coronation  Day  is  from  a  photograph  sent  to  us  from 
Mr.  Jas.  Barson,  gardener  to  the  Earl  of  Sandwich,  Hinching- 
brook,  Huntingdon,  who  tells  us  that  the  trees  vrere  prepared 
as  shown,  by  Messrs.  Wood  and  Ingram,  nurserymen,  Hunting¬ 
don  and  St.  Neots.  “The  photograph,”  adds  Mr.  Barson,  “is 
sent  as  a  result  of  your  recent  paragraphs,  especially  the  one  which 
stated  that  the  Dundee  folks  had  been  hunting  for  suitable  trees 
and  could  not  find  them.”  Many  of  the  specimens  are  very  fine, 
several  being  over  16ft  in  height.  The  crates  they  are  in  can 
be  let  into  the  ground,  and  the  trees,  receiving  no  disturbance, 
can  hardly  fail  to  grow.  They  are  at  present  in  capital  con¬ 
dition,  the  following  list  being  the  names  of  them British  Oak, 
Scarlet  Horse  Chestnut,  Copper  Beech,  Mountain  Ash,  Lime 
Tilia  dasystyla,  Beech  (common),  Cedrus  Deodara,  Picea. 
pungens  glauca,  Picea  pungens  argentea,  the  Occidental  Plane, 
Golden  Oak,  Acacia  inemiis,  Cedrus  Libani,  Cedrus  atlantica 
glauca.  Scarlet  American  Oak,  and  Cupressus  macrocarpa  lutea. 
How  the  Street  Merchant  Saved  Covent  Garden. 
After  their  disastrous  experiences  of  Wednesday  last  week 
the  w'holesale  dealers  in  flow'ers  and  perishable  foods  in  London 
were  quite  prepared  for  anything  that  was  bad  to  happen  on 
the  Thursday,  and  the  most  pessimistic  predictions  were  largely 
fulfilled.  To  the  glutted  overnight  markets  there  came  in  the 
dawn  an  abundant  fresh  supply.  Its  arrival  was  a  torturing 
sight  to  the  dealers.  They  made  (says  the  “  Daily  Mail  ”)  a.  resolve 
to  clear  the  markets  at  any  cost.  The  Covent  Garden  florists  were 
inclined  to  laugh  at  the  result,  for  to  men  of  experience  it  seemed 
so  utterly  impossible.  They  had  practically  only  one  class  of 
customer — the  flower  girl.  The  flower  girl,  however,  is  not 
despised  in  C'ovent  Garden,  for  many  of  the  old  dealers  declare 
that  she  has  saved  the  market  many  a  time  by  coming  in  and 
clearing  it  at  some  sort  of  price — all  for  cash,  too.  Attracted  by 
the  “  slump  ”  reports  in  the  papers,  she  went  in  force  to  the 
Garden  oil  the  Thursday,  and,  though  the  stock  was  so  heavy 
that  it  was  beyond  her  power  to  do  anything  like  save  the  situa¬ 
tion,  she  poured  in  pence  and  shillings  to  the  dealers,  who  would 
otherwise  have  had  absolutely  nothing  at  all.  This  was  the  basis 
on  which  she  did  it :  — 
Extra  Excelsior  Lilies 
Extra  special  Lilies 
Best  Lilies 
Longiflorums  . 
Scarlet  Geraniums.. 
Odontoglossum  Orchids 
Cattleya  Orchids  .. 
Boses,  various 
Ordinary  Price.  Thursday 
2/6  bunch  . 
3d. 
1/6  bunch  . 
2d. 
1/-  bunch  . 
Id. 
2/-  bunch  . 
3d. 
1/-  bunch  . . 
2d. 
2/-  lo  is.  dozen  blooms  .. 
3d. 
18/- dozen  blooms  ..  .. 
2/6 
1/6  to  2/-  bunch..  2d.  to 
Ld. 
In  this  way  did  the  flow 
er  girl  clear  out  Covent  Garden  till  in 
the  afternoon  there  was  not  a  Rosebud  or  Orchid  or  a  Lily  left. 
The  Rochford  firm  alone  sold  to  the  girls  509  dozen  bunches  of 
Lilies  of  the  Valley,  906  dozen  blooms  of  Lilies,  and  171  dozen 
Orchids.  A  solitary  girl,  who  does  all  her  selling  in  the  City, 
bought  no  fewer  than  100  dozen  Orchids.  The  fruit  part  of 
Covent  Garden  also  had  another  very  bad  day.  There  was  the 
same  desire  to  get  out  at  any  prices  as*with  the  florists,  and  some 
classes  of  fruit  were  cleared)  pence  often  being  taken  when 
shillings  should  have  been.  Really  there  were  no  prices  to  quote, 
for  no  offer  was  refused,  and  there  were  the  widest  variations, 
though  all  were  down  to  an  absurd  level.  Despite  every  effort, 
quantifies  of  the  best  Peaches,  Nectarines,  and  the  like  still 
remained  on  hand,  and  in  sorrow  and  disgust  the  market  shut  up 
early  and  went  off  to  try  the  Bank  Holiday. 
