February  25,  1904. 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
159 
Old-time  Gardening. 
{Continued  from  page  25.) 
Near  the  close  of  the  seventeenth  century  Evelyn  sub¬ 
mitted  what  may  be  called  the  prospectus  of  a  great  work 
on  horticulture,  to  be  written  by  a  body  of  capable  men. 
It  is  to  be  found  prefixed  to  “Acetaria,”  1699.  and  is 
entitled  “  The  Plan  of  a  Royal  Garden,”  and  in  the 
“Memoirs  of  Evelyn.”  but  with  a  slightly  ditfereut  phrase¬ 
ology  as  “  Elysium  Brittanicum.” 
The  titles  of  a  few  of  the  chapters  of  this  book  that  never 
was  undertaken,  give  a  good  idea  of  the  perplexity  of 
variety  in  a  garden  at  that  period.  Some  of  these  may  be 
mentioned,  as  knots,  parterres,  compartiments,  bordures, 
trayle-work,  banks,  and  embossments,  terraces,  walks, 
carpets  and  allies,  malls,  bowling-greens,  groves,  labyrinths, 
dedals,  cabinets,  cradles,  close  walks,  galleries,  pavillions, 
porticos,  lanterns,  and  other  relievos,  topiary  and  hortulan 
architecture,  fountains,  jettos,  cascades,  rivulets,  piscinas, 
canals,  baths,  artificial  waterworks,  rocks,  grottos,  crypts, 
mounts,  precipices,  venti  ducts,  conservatories  of  ice  ancl 
snow  statues,  busts,  obelisks,  columns,  inscriptions,  dials, 
vases,  pots,  perspectives,  paintings,  Gazon-theatres,' amphi¬ 
theatres,  echos,  automata,  hydraulic  musick,  apiaries, 
aviaries,  vivaries,  insects,  verdures,  perennial  greens,  per¬ 
petual  springs,  orangeries,  hybernacula  stoves,  conserva¬ 
tories,  coronary  garden  flowers  and  rare  plants,  medical 
garden,  and  stupendous  wonderful  plants  ;  hort-yard  and 
potagere,  sallets,  and  vineyard. 
These,  and  more,  were  either  then  or  shortly  afterwards 
to  be  found  existing  under  the  care  of  the  gardener.  Some 
were  of  long  antecedent  date,  and  the  book  was  indeed 
intended  to  treat,  without  prejudice,  of  all  styles  and 
methods  of  gardening.  Cabinets,  porticos,  topiary  and 
hortulan  architecture,  with  rocks,  grottos,  and  crypts  were 
novelties  of  the  day,  which  in  the  succeeding  century 
became  not  at  all  uncommon,  far  more  common,  in  fact, 
than  the  pure  Dutch,  which  seems  not  to  have  appealed 
with  any  great  force  to  our  insular  tastes. 
Town  gardens  still  prevailed  in  this  century,  and  ipo  to 
the  date  of  the  great  fire  in  London  in  1666  citizens  con¬ 
tinued  to  have  gardens  attached  to  their  houses.  We 
gather  from  Penys  that  not  only  had  he  a  private  garden 
in  which  he  walked  with  his  friends  and  sang  songs  of  his 
own  composing,  with  his  wife  and  maidservant,  or  buried 
his  parmezan  cheese  and  choice  wines  for  safety,  but  also 
at  the  Admiralty  Office  in  Seething  Lane  there  was  a  garden 
attached  in  which  he  talked  business.  He  mentions  the 
garden  of  a  neighbour  which  was  furnished  with  abundance 
of  Grapes,  and  he  tells  how  he  stole  Apples  at  St.  James’s. 
Evelyn  mentions  overhearing  a  conversation  between 
Charles  11.  and  “  Mrs.  Nellie,”  who  stood  in  a  terrace  in 
her  garden,  at  the  top  of  a  wall,  the  King  being  outside. 
In  “  Old  and  New  Edinburgh  ”  is  a  copy  of  an  old  map  of 
that  city  showing  gardens  arranged  with  much  formality 
attached  to  the  houses  within  the  walls.  At  Norwich  and 
at  Spalding  there  are  also  records  of  town  gardens  where 
gardening  was  pursued  with  much  success. 
The  public  gardens  of  London  originated  early  in  the 
seventeenth  century,  the  earliest  being  Spring  Gardens, 
said  to  be  so  called  from  a  statue  that  squirted  water  on 
the  unwary  who  unknowingly  operated  it.  Evelyn  mentions 
something  of  the  same  sort  in  a  Parisian  garden,  and 
Worledge  gives  a  figure  of  one  squirting  water  into  the 
eye  of  a  looker  on.  On  account  of  unruly  behaviour  this 
garden  was  closed  to  the  public  in  1654.  During  the  Com- 
monwealtli.  Mulberry  gardens  were  in  vogue  ;  Evelyn  speaks 
of  these  very  slightingly.  Vauxhall  Gardens  (from  Fulke’s 
Hall),  but  commonly  called  Foxhall,  were  situated  in 
J,,anibeth,  and  were  very  popular. 
It  was  sometimes  called  Spring  Garden,  as  for  example 
by  Pepys:  “I  by  water  to  Fox-hall,  and  there  walked  in 
Spring  Garden,”  and  concludes,  while  cheap  it  was  also 
“  mighty  divertising  ”  ;  but  that  he  cared  but  slightly  for 
it.  He  in  another  place  tells  how  he  went  to  Mulberry 
Garden,  “  and  find  it  a  very  silly  place,  worse  than  Spring 
Garden,  only  a  wilderness  here  that  is  somewhat  pretty.” 
I-lvelyn  visited  the  latter  in  1661,  shortly  after  it  was  opened 
as  the  New  Spring  Garden,  and  we  gather  elsewhere  that 
the  ground  was  divided  by  walks  of  grass  and  sand  in 
squares  of  twenty  to  thirty  yards,  enclosed  with  hedges  of 
Gooseberries,  whilst  Avithin  were  Raspberries.  Roses,  Beans, 
and  Asparagus  ! 
It  also  abounded  in  arbours,  and  the  polite  world  went 
there  to  dance,  to  listen  to  music,  and  to  enter  into  other 
pastimes  of  a  less  innocent  nature.  These  public  gardens 
were  undoubtedly  largely  taken  advantage  of  as  places  of 
assignation  among  the  profligate,  and  we  read  repeatedly 
of  Rosamond’s  Pond  in  St.  James’s  Park  being  employed  by 
members  of  the  upper  classes  as  a  place  for  clandestine 
meetings. 
The  seventeenth  centurj'  maj"  be  said  to  have  witnessed 
the  origin  of  the  modern  nursery.  No  doubt  we  find 
indubitable  records  of  nurseries  being  in  existence  in  the 
previous  century,  and  all  along  the.  earlier  part  of  the 
seventeenth  it  is  clear  that  cultivation  and  distribution  of 
florist  flowers  were  to  be  found  here  and  there  all  over 
England.  Fruit  trees  and  flowers  were,  how'ever,  the  only 
subjects  about  Avhich  any  definite  infoz’mation  can  be  gleaned 
as  being  produced  for  sale.  And  I  think,  too,  though  the 
proof  is  not  conclusive,  that  head  gardeners  in  the  more 
important  places  were  accustomed  to  dispose  of  plants. 
In  Scotland  it  certainly  was  the  custom  to  do  so.  In 
1677  a  book  was  published  advocating  the  institution  of 
nurseries  and  profitable  gardens,  and  four  years  later  the 
famous  Brompton  Park  Nursery  was  started  by  four 
gardeners,  to  wit,  George  London  (gardener  to  Bishop 
Compton),  Moses  Cook  (gardener  to  the  Earl  of  Essex), 
Field  (gardener  to  the  Duke  of  Bedford),  and  Lucre 
(gardener  at  Somerset  House).  A  change  was  made  in  the 
firm  in  1691,  when  Cook  retired,  - and  the  two  last  named 
having  died,  Henry  Wise,  another  gardener,  became  a 
partner  with  London.  It  is  curious  to-day  to  remember 
that  while  engaged  as  nurserymen  and  landscape  gardeners 
these  men  still  retained  situations  as  gardeners. 
The  nurseries  extended  to  one  hundred  acres,  and  we 
are  indebted  to  Evelyn  for  a  knowledge  of  their  contents, 
he  having  prefixed  to  his  edition  of  Quintiney’s  work  on 
fruit  trees  an  “  advertisement  ”  of  what  London  and  Wise 
could  supply,  along  with  an  amount  of  lavish  praise  of  their 
qualifications  that  is  a  curious  exhibition  of  the  good  taste 
of  a  gentleman  of  Old  England.  It  is  to  be  found  also  in 
“The  Compleate  Gard’ner.”  It  will  suffice  to  say  here  that 
the  nurseries  possessed  a  “  choice  ”  collection  of  “  Orange 
trees,  Limon,  Myrtil,  Bays,  Jasmines,  and  all  other  rarefies 
and  exotics  requiring  the  conservatory  ”  ;  “a  very  brave  and 
noble  assembly  of  the  flowering  and  other  trees  ;  perennial 
and  variegated  evergreens  and  shrubs  ”  ;  “  store  of  Elms, 
Limes,  Planes.  Constantinople-Chestnuts.  Black  Cherry 
trees,  Ac.”  ;  “  seeds,  bulbs,  roots,  slips  for  the  flowery 
garden.”  Fruit  trees,  especially  Pears,  were  a  speciality. 
If  we  are  to  credit  other  people  who  mention  these 
nurseries  there  must  have  been  a  stock  of  ten  million 
plants  for  sale,  and  how  such  an  enormous  quantity  of  sale¬ 
able  material  could  be  disposed  of  at  the  period  in  ques¬ 
tion  is  explained  by  the  fact  that  the  firm  had  charge  not 
only  of  the  Royal  parks  and  gardens,  but  of  all  the  chief 
o-ardens  in  England.  They  were,  moreover,  garden  and 
estate  designers,  and  Avhen  w'e  consider  the  vast  quantities 
of  shrubs,  trees,  and  fruit  trees  required  to  furnish  gardens, 
wildernesses,  &c.,  the  solution  is  by  no  means  difficult. 
There  is  no  apparent  reason  to  question  the  credibility 
of  contemporaries  who  describe  London  as  having  an  inti¬ 
mate  acquaintance  with  all  kinds  of  vegetation,  as  well  as 
a  practical  knowledge  of  its  varied  requirements,  and  1 
think  it  may  safely  be  concluded  that  by  no  other  means 
than  that  adopted  by  the  nobility  and  gentry  of  entrusting 
the  superintendence  of  their  estates  to  London,  with  the 
consequent  necessity  of  the  firm  producing  enormous 
quantities  of  nursery  stuff,  could  horticulture  have  acquired 
tlie  solid  hold  it  did  at  this  period.  The  material  supplied 
bv  the  lesser  nurserymen  seems  to  have  been  most  unreli¬ 
able  especially  as  to  its  being  true  to  name  While  the 
verv’fact  that  London  and  Wise  were  responsible  for  years 
for^the  quality  of  the  plants  supplied,  would  augur  well 
for  them  supplying  an  article  beyond  reproach. 
The  earliest  mention  I  have  been  able  to  discover  of  a 
nurseryman  in  Scotland  occurs  in  Reid  s  '  Scots  Gardener 
(1683),  in  which  the  writer  recommends  James  Wood, 
Hamilton  as  a  reliable  person  with  whom  to  deal.  It  is 
not  improbable,  however,  that  WMod,  like  most  of  his 
English  contemporaries,  was  rather  a  market-gardener  o 
fruit-grower,  combining  with  either  of  ^  I 
of  a  nurseryman,  just  as  the  once  famous  Southfield  firm  of 
the  Renches,  near  Parson’s  Green,  was  managed.— B. 
