122 
August  7,  1902. 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE 
Another  point  in  their  culture  on  which  growers  differ,  is 
the  covering  up  of  the  pots  in  cocoa-nut  fibre  or  ashes,  leaves, 
and  such  like,  when  potted.  While  success  attend  both 
practices,  it  cannot  be  denied  that  they  do  as  well,  if  not 
infinitely  better,  without  being  so  protected.  I  have  seen  them 
growing  as  well  as  they  can  possibly  be  expected  to  grow, 
simply  placed  on  a  cinder  bed  on  a  garden  plot,  where  adjacent 
trees  provided  a  little  sun-and-wind-break.  These  wTere  wonder¬ 
fully  sturdy,  the  growth  being  well  maintained  by  this  open-air 
treatment,  so  long  as  it  was  deemed  safe  to  trust  them  out  of 
doors.  Transferred  to  warm  greenhouses,  there  would  be  a 
more  ready  response  and  marked  gain  over  plants  somewhat 
drawn  first  by  a  covering  of  the-  pots,  and  the  afterward  shelter¬ 
ing  influence  of  glass  lights.  To  some  extent,  too,  there  would 
be  less  necessity  of  strict  rule  in  potting  successfully  for 
bringing  on  the  varied  batches,  one  after  another,  by  adopting 
this  sanatorium  principle.  Uniformity  of  moisture  would  be 
the  better  maintained  by  the  use  of  an  ordinary  frame,  without 
lights,  or  the  fixing  of  some  boards  in  a  suitable  square,  this 
protecting  the  outside  pots  from  sun  and  drying  winds. — W.  S. 
Old-time  Gardening. 
(Continued  from  p.  14.) 
The  latest  instalment  in  this  series  of  articles  on  the  history 
of  British  gardening,  dealt  at  some  length  with  Tusser’ s  book 
named  “  Five  Hundred  Points  of  Husbandry,”  and  I  quoted  lists 
of  the  names  of  flowers  and  vegetables  grown  in  his  time,  and 
mentioned  by  him.  In  this  book  of  his,  he  provides,  moreover, 
an  epitome  of  gardening  in  rhymes  and  measure  as  quaintly 
unique  as  the  matter  they  serve  to  convey  is  sound.  It  is  very 
remarkable,  this  book  affording  abundant  proof  that  in  many 
respects  the  mid-sixteenth  century  horticulturist  had  not  much 
to  learn  in  practical  gardening.  Ground  was  to  be  trenched  in 
November,  and  in  January  Tusser  exclaims  :  — 
Thy  garden  plot  lately,  wel  trenched  and  muckt, 
Would  now  be  twifaliowed,  the  mallows  outpluckt. 
I  wonder  how  many  go  to  the  trouble  of  digging  or  “  twifal- 
lowing  ”  trenched  grounds  nowadays,  yet  it  is  an  invaluable  aid 
to  gardening.  Then,  as  a  fruit  grower,  how  safe  is  his  advice! 
Concerning  grafting,  he  tells  us  in  the  March  Abstract :  — < 
Who  grafting  love?,  now  grafting  proves. 
Of  every  suit,  graffe  daintee  fruit. 
Graffe  good  fruit  all,  or  graffe  not  at  all. 
Among  pithy  remarks  on  fruit  gathering  these  may  be 
accepted  as  a  sample:  — 
Out,  fruit,  go  and  gather,  but  not  in  the  deaw. 
With  Crab  and  the  Walnut,  for  fear  of  a  shrew. 
But  lest  there  should  be  over-haste,  he  gives  this  warning  note  :  — 
Fruit  gathered  too  timelie,  will  taste  of  the  wood. 
Will  shrink  and  be  bittor,  and  sildome  prove  good. 
therefore, 
Pluck  fruit  to  last  I  Forget  it  not, 
When  Michell  is  past.  |  Fruit  brused  will  not. 
Good  fruit  and  good  plentie  doth  wel  in  the  loft. 
Then  make  thee  an  orchard,  and  cherish  it  oft. 
Vines  were  a  fruit  commonly  cultivated,  and  these  he  advises 
to  be  planted  in  February.  What  is  said  of  Strawberries 
emphasises  the  inconceivable  advance  made  since  then,  when  wild 
Strawberries  alone  were  cultivated:  — 
Wife,  into  the  garden,  and  set  me  a  plot 
With  Strawbery  roots  of  the  best  to  be  got. 
Such  growing  abroad,  among  thornes  in  the  wood. 
Well  chosen  and  pricked,  prove  excellent  good. 
The  Barbery,  Respis,  and  Goosebery,  too, 
Looke  now  to  be  planted  as  other  things  do. 
The  Goosebery,  Respis,  Roses,  al  three', 
With  Strawberies  vnder  them,  trimly  agree. 
Exactly  the  same  methods  of  treating  Strawberries  are  noted 
by  later  writers,  and  actually  they  were  sometimes  set  under  the 
shade  of  orchard  trees.  Moreover,  the  Strawberry  was  thought 
not  to  be  hardy  :  — 
If  frost  do  continue,  take  this  for  a  law, 
The  Strawberries  look  to  be  covered  with  straw. 
And  not  only  this  hardy  fruit,  but :  — 
The  Gillefiower  also,  the  skilful  do  know, 
Doth  look  to  be  covered  in  frost  and  in  snow. 
The  knot  and  the  border,  and  Rosemary  gay, 
Do  crave  the  like  succour  for  dying  away. 
Of  pot  plants  the  farmer  cultivated  at  least  two  I 
Fine  Basil  desireth  it  may  be  her  lot 
To  grow  as  a  Gillefiower,  trim  in  a  pot. 
AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
Peas  formed  the  most  important  crop  of  the  kitchen  garden,  and 
directions  occur  from  time  to.  time  as  to  what  required  doing. 
Greene  peason  or  hustings  at  Hallowtkle  sow, 
In  harty  good  soile  he  requireth  to  grow. 
Gray  peason  or  runcivals  cheerely  to  stand, 
At  Candlemas  sow  with  a  plentiful  hapd. 
“Runcivals”  were  to  be  sticked  in  February  and  late  Peas  to  be 
sown  in  May,  while 
White  peason,  both  good  for  the  pot  and  the  purse, 
By  sowing  too  timely  prove  often  the  worse. 
'  .  :  -.fir: ;  -.A 
There  are  many  other  wise  sayings  as  to  sowing,  planting, 
weeding,  &c.,  and,  strange  as  it  may  appear  to  us  now,  the  chief 
care  of  the  garden  devolved  on  the  mistress  of  the  establishment. 
In  March  and  in  April,  from  morning  till  night, 
In  sowing  and  setting  good  huswives  delight. 
To  have  in  a  garden  or  other  like  plot. 
To  trim  vp  their  house  and  to  furnish  their  pot. 
“  Good  huswives  in  summer  wil  save  their  own  seed,”  “  Maids 
Mustard  seed  gather,  for  being  too  ripe,”  are  other  quotations, 
They  also  managed  the  Flax  and  the  Hemp  crop,  and  Hemp, 
Tusser  assures  these  lady  gardeners,  should  always  be  planted 
among  Nettles! 
Saffron,  too,  indispensable  in  every  household,  was  under 
their  charge.  It  was  to  be  transplanted  in  gardens  once  every 
three  years,  and  in  the  field  every  fourth  year.  The  bed  was 
“  pared,”  or  the  surface  cleaned,  between  the  two  “  S.  Maries 
daies,”  and  “  fortie  foot”  furnished,  Saffron  inough  for  a  lord  and 
a  knight.”  During  winter  “  linnen  ”  was  bleached,  laid  on  the 
densely  grown  foliage.  The  secret  of  Saffron  culture  seems  to 
be  lost,  as  the  plant  is  one  of  the  most  shy  plants  to  bloom, 
missing  year  after  year.  In  1901  it  flowered  here  in  Hadding¬ 
tonshire,  but  not  till  November.  It  is  just  possible,  however, 
that  the  old  Saffron  Crocus  has  disappeared  and  less  valuable 
seedlings  have  usurped  its  place.  The  “  huswife  ”  was  also 
responsible  for  the  healing  of  the  sick,  and  had  to  cultivate 
physic  before  she  could  prescribe  it  to  her  patients. 
In  addition  to  details  under  “  Good  Huswiflie  Physicke,”  here 
and  there  throughout  the  book  remarks  are  to  be  found  on  the 
subject. 
Get  water  of  fumetorie.  liver  to  cool, 
Conserves  of  Barberie,  Quinces  or  such, 
White  Endive  and  Suckorie,  with  Spinage  enough  ; 
All  such  with  good  potherbs  should  follow  the  plough. 
Make  physicke  true,  of  Wormwood  and  Rue. 
What  savor  is  better  if  physicke  be  true 
For  places  infested  than  Wormwood  and  Rue?”  &c. 
Sloes  were  preserved  in  bed-straw,  or  hung  up  attached  to 
their  branches,  to  be  used  in  dysentery.  The  farmer,  it  would 
appear,  did  not  sand  his  garden  walks,  but  was  content  with 
commoner  materials :  — 
Save  sawdust  and  briekdust,  and  ashes  so  fine, 
For  allie  to  walk  in,  with  neighbor  of  thine. 
And  “  haws  ”  and  “  brembles  ”  (wild  Roses)  were  sown  for  hedging 
purposes.  Very  good  advice  is  given  how  to  proceed  in  the 
furnishing  of  an  “  arbor  ”  :  — 
To  arbor  begun  and  cjuicke  setted  about, 
No  powling  or  wadling  til  set  be  for  out. 
That  is,  the_  poles  and  wattles  (split  willows  not  improbably)  were 
not  to  be  fixed  till  growth  had  advanced  sufficiently  to  require 
support. 
The  first  book  devoted  solely  to  the  cultivation  of  fruit 
appeared  in  1572.  It  is  entitled  “  A  Book  of  the  Arte  and  Maner 
howe  to  Plant  and  Graff  all  sortes  of  Trees,  &c.,”  by  Leonard 
Mascal.  This  person  was  clerk  of  the  kitchen  to  Archbishop 
Parker,  and  he  varied  his  labours  on  gardening  by  invasions  into 
the  departments  of  farriery,  stock-keeping,  and  kindred  subjects, 
and,  as  a  fact,  the  work  above  mentioned  is  merely  a  translation 
from  the  Dutch.  It  details  with  much  fulness  the  raising  of 
fruit  trees  from  “  pepins,”  grafting  and  its  benefits.  Later, 
bound  up  with  “  A  Perfect  Platforme  of  a  Hoppe  Garden  ”  and 
“  The  Expert  Gardener,”  it  was  published  as  “  The  Countrey- 
man’s  Recreation.”  In  1578  another  translation,  which  proved 
a  very  popular  one,  was  produced.  This  was  “  Dedoens  Niewe 
Herball  or  Historie  of  Plantes,  translated  by  Henry  Lyte, 
Esquayer.”  It  forms  a  good  sized  folio,  with  numerous  faithfully 
executed  line  engravings  of  the  plants  described. 
An  octavo  without  the  engraving  followed  in  1586.  This  work 
has  already  been  valued,  and  as  early  as  1580  among  things 
advised  to  be  carried  on  a  voyage  of  discovery  in  that  year  occurs 
“  The  New  Herball.”  It  is,  however,  of  no  great  utility  viewed 
from  the  purely  horticultural  vantage ;  but  it  is  rich  in  old 
English  plant  names.  Lyte  himself  appears  not  to  have 
possessed  a  garden,  at  least  he  never  ventures  to  say  he  himself 
cultivated  plants,  but  only  remarks  a  plant  is  to  be  found  “  in 
the  gardens  of  certayne  Herboristes,”  or  as  in  the  case  of 
Ceratonia  siliqua,  “  they  be  sometimes  founde  in  the  gardens  of 
some  diligent  Herboristes ;  but  they  be  so  small  shrubbes  that 
