December  24,  1903.  JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
575 
Old-Time  Gardening. 
(Contuiued  from  i)age  346.) 
In  an  early  paper  of  this  series,  the  part  played  by 
“adventurers”  and  merchants  in  the  reign  of  Elizabeth  in  the 
introduction  of  exotics  into  England  has  been  noted,  and,  as  a 
corollary  to  that,  mention  may  now  be  made  of  what  occurred 
in  this  connection  in  the  century  succeeding.  The  most  notable 
of  the  early  introducers  ofnew  plants  were  undoubtedly  the 
Tradescants,  father  and  son,  the  former  of  whom  is  supposed 
to  have  been  the  son  of  a  Dutchman  of  that  name  who  settled 
in  England  in  the  latter  part  of  the  16th  century.  They  were 
held  in  much  esteem  in  England,  and  so  late  as  1709  we  find 
Steele  in  “The  Tatler”  making  reference  to  John  Tradescant 
as  a  collector  of  curiosities. 
If  we  are  to  credit  Hawkins  (“Walton’s  Complete  Angler  ”), 
the  first  Tradescant  was  gardener  to  Queen  Elizabeth,  and  the 
one  now  known  as  the  “  Elder  Tradescant  ”  was  also  employed 
in  a  like  capacity  by  that  Sovereign.  Parkinson  relates  how 
he  made  journeys  pn  the  Continent  in  search  of  rarities  in  the 
vegetable  kingdom,  and  while  with  the  Earl  of  Salisbury  he 
left  an  account  of  what  he  bought,  with  prices,  on  a  journey 
of  this  nature  in  1611.  He  made  purchases  at  Leiden,  at 
Haarlem,  and  at  Parrys.  “  An  exceeding  great  Cherye  called 
the  Boores  Cherye”. cost  123.;  “The  double  Echatega  (?),  the 
martagon  pompone  blanche  (Lilium  Martagon  album),  the 
martagon  pompong  orang  coller  (Lilium  pomponium),  and  the 
Irys  calsedonye  and  the  Irys  susyana  (Iris  pallida  and 
I.  susiana)’’  cost  £2  ;  “  Vynes  called  Muscats,  two  bundals  of 
plants,  4s.”  ;  and  “8  pots  of  Orang  trees  of  on  year’s  growth, 
grafted,  at  10s.  the  piece,”  are  examples  of  his  purchases  at 
this  time. 
In  1620  he  made  a  journey  to  Algiers,  and  gathered  much 
spoil  on  that  occasion.  Of  Gladiolus  byantinus,  as  he  informed 
Parkinson,  he  saw  acres  growing  in  Barbary,  and  from  Algiers 
he  brought  several  sorts  of  Apricots.  He  travelled  also  in 
Turkey  and  Russia,  and  in  a  nursery  he  established  at 
Lambeth — but  previous  to  which  he  was  gardener  to  Lord 
Wotton  at  Canterbury,  by  whom  “  Finochio  ”  was  first  intro¬ 
duced,  and  perhaps  while  he  was  gardener  to  the  Duke  of 
Buckingham — he  had  a  very  complete  collection  of  Plums, 
many  of  which  he  had  introduced  from  abroad.  He  also 
introduced  to  cultivation  in  England  the  beautiful  Pyrus  Aria, 
a  tree  not  nearly  so  much  planted  as  its  merits  entitle  it  to  be. 
The  introduction  of  Tradescantia  virginica  has  generally 
been  attributed  to  either  the  father  or  son.  As  a  fact,  the 
elder  Tradescant,  as  we  gather  from  Parkinson,  was  presented 
with  it  by  a  person  who  brought  it  from  Virginia  for  a  kind  of 
Asclepias  ;  yet  it  is  more  generally  known  than  any  other  of 
his  own  introductions,  and  long  after  his  day  was  called  by  his 
name.  As  to  Aster  Tradescanti,  it  is  first  mentioned  by 
Johnstone  in  1683  as  growing  in  the  “  gardens  of  Mr. 
Tradescant,  Mr.  Tuggye,  and  others,”  and  “  reported  to  be  a 
Virginian.” 
From  this  authority  we  gather  that  Tradescant  was  a  large 
grower  of  Auriculas,  and  had  also  Aristolochia  serpentaria. 
Pelargonium  triste.  Spiraea  Aruncus,  Scolymus  maculatus. 
Trifolium  rubens  (‘‘from  Fermentera”).  Phaseolus  multiflorus 
“was  procured  by  Mr.  Tradescant,  and  growes  in  our  gardens,  is 
a  large  plant,  not  differing  in  manner  of  growth  from - Kidney 
Beanes,  but  his  floures  are  large,  many,  and  of  an  elegant 
scarlet  colour,  whence  it  is  vulgarly  termed  by  our  Flourists, 
the  Scarlet  Beane.”  Jasminum  fruticans,  Laburnum,  Anagyris 
fcetida,  Horse  Chestnut  (then  rare),  and  Oriental  Plane  are 
other  plants  he  grew.  His  son,  who  visited  Virginia  in  pursuit 
of  plants  and  curiosities,  gives  in  “Museum  Tradescantianum ” 
a  list  of  plants  and  fruits  cultivated  in  his  garden.  The 
museum  itself  was  bequeathed  to  Ashmole,  who,  in  turn,  left 
it  to  the  University  of  Oxford,  and  has  been  long  known  as 
the  Ashmolean  Museum. 
Early  in  the  17  th  century,  voyages  were  made  to  China,  Japan. 
India,  Sumatra,  and  other  eastern  islands,  and  “factories” 
established ;  while  at  the  same  period  the  West  Indies,  the 
Bermudas,  Jamaica,  and  new  settlements  in  North  America 
were  regularly  traded  with.  It  was,  of  course,  impossible  to 
acclimatise  tropical  plants  in  England  at  this  period,  because 
the  hothouse  was  still  a  thing  of  the  future,  though  some  were 
wintered  in  cellars  ;  but  in  the  good  lists  of  common  garden 
flowers  noted  by  Ev'elyn  in  1664,  it  is  not  without  interest  to 
find  such  as  Podophyllum  peltatum.  Lobelia  caidinalis,  Passi- 
flora  cajrulea,  Asclepias  virginica.  Marvel  of  Peru,  Persian  Lilac, 
common  Lilac,  .Jasminum  granditlorum,  J.  odoratissiraum, 
Canna  indica.  Cyclamen  persicum,  Datura  fastuosa,  D.  metel, 
D.  tatula,  Eryngium  planum,  E.  alpinum,  E.  amethystinum, 
Eupatorium  ageratoides.  Mimosa  pudica,  M.  sensitiva.  Lychnis 
Viscaria  var.,  Scabiosa  atro-purpurea  vars..  Cineraria  ragusina, 
Yucca  gloriosa.  Agave  americana,  Nerine  sarniensis,  Bruns- 
vigia  multiflora,  Argemone  mexicana,  Spiraia  salicifolia,  and 
altogether,  at  a  rough  count,  there  would  be  400  plants,  with 
varieties,  in  cultivation. 
The  varieties  of  fruits  cultivated  were  also  greatly  increased, 
in  Pears  especially,  a  very  great  influx  of  French  varieties 
occurring  about  this  time,  a  selection  of  these  continuing  to  be 
cultivated  till  about  a  hundred  years  ago.  At  this  period  too, 
a  few  Apples  of  French  or  Flemish  origin  were  introduced, 
Hartlib  edited  “  The  Legacy,”  the  product  of  several  writers, 
and  another  work  on  fruit  trees,  from  which  we  gather  that  500 
varieties  of  Apples  were  thought  to  have  been  in  cultivation  at 
the  time  of  the  Commonwealth.  In  the  last-named  work,  one 
of  the  writers  quaintly  remarks  : 
The  poor  man’s  child  invited  was  to  dine, 
With  flesh  of  oxen,  sheep,  and  fatted  swine. 
(Far  better  cheer  than  he  at  home  could  find). 
And  yet  this  child  to  stay  had  little  minde. 
“You  have,’’  quoth  he  “no  Apple,  froise,  nor  pie. 
Stew’d  Pears,  with  bread  and  milk,  and  Walnuts  by.” 
This  is  one  of  those  remarkable  sayings  that  cast  a  much- 
needed  light  on  the  domestic  economy  of  the  poor,  about  the 
life  of  whom  scarcely  anything  occurs  in  old  histories.  An 
equally  interestiusr  statement  was  made  a  few  years  later  by 
Worlidge  to  the  effect  that  fruit  trees  in  the  South  of  England 
were  largely  planted  in  hedgerows  in  exactly  the  same  manner 
that  Damsons  are  grown  in  parts  of  Cheshire  to-day. 
The  Continental  wars  had,  no  doubt,  ultimately  a  good  effect 
on  gardening  in  England,  and  the  custom  of  young  men  of 
family  spending  a  few  years  in  travel  on  the  Continent  would 
contribute  materially  to  its  advancement.  A  perusal  of  the 
early  part  of  “ Evelyn’s  Diary”  makes  this  abundantly  clear, 
and  the  tastes  he  acquired  during  his  travels  were  not  once 
lost  during  the  whole  course  of  his  lengthened  life.  Sir 
W.  Temple  affords  another  instance  of  an  Englishman  enriching 
his  gardens  with  many  foreign  introductions,  and  at  the  same 
time  introducing  improved  methods  of  cultivation,  the  result 
of  careful  observation  while  acting  as  Ambassador  at  various 
foreign  courts,  and  before  him,  Sir  H-  Wotton  may  be  cited  a.s 
another  instance. 
We  gather  from  Switzer,  that  Lord  Capel  enriched  his 
garden  at  Kew  with  many  French  fruits,  and  the  same  writer 
commends  very  highly  the  labours  of  Lord  William  Russell, 
whose  character  as  given  in  Bishop  Burnett’s  History  of  His 
Own  Times  exhibits  a  sweet-tempered  yet  witty  gentleman 
