VARIOUS FRUITS, &c., IN ENGLAND.

In the reign of Elizabeth, Edmund Grindall, afterwards archbishop of Canterbury, transplanted here the Tamarisk. Oranges were brought here by one of the Carew family. To Sir Walter Raleigh we are indebted for that useful root, the Potatoe. Sir Anthony Ashley first planted Cabbages in this country.* The Fig-trees planted by Cardinal Pole, in the reign of Henry VIII., are still standing in Lambeth. Sir Richard Weston first brought Clover-grass into England in 1645. The Mulberry-tree is a native of Persia, and is said to have been introduced in 1576. The Almond was introduced in 1570, and came from the east. The Chestnut is a native of the South of Europe. The Walnut is a native of Persia, but the time of its introduction is unknown. The Apricot came from America, about 1562. The Plum is a native of Asia, and was imported into Europe by the Crusaders; and the Damascene takes its name from the city of Damascus. The Alpine Strawberry was first cultivated in the king's garden, in 1760. The Peach is a native of Persia. The Nectarine was first introduced about 1562. The Quince, called Cydonia, from Cydon, was cultivated in this country in Gerrard's time. The red Queenapple was so called in compliment to queen Elizabeth. The cultivation of the Pear is of great antiquity, for Pliny mentions twenty different kinds. Most of our apples came originally from France.

Miller mentions eighty-four species of Pear, whose names are all enumerated in his Gardener's Dictionary, a work of great celebrity, and may be said to have laid the foundation of all the horticultural taste and knowledge in England. To the afflictions and exiles of Charles we are indebted for many of our best vegetables, which were introduced by his followers from the Continent: thus, by the industry of man, are the gifts of the earth trausplanted from clime to clime.

"See how the rising fruits the gardens crown,

Imbibe the Sun, and make his light their own."

RAISINS.

Blackmore.

Raisins are made from grapes, by cutting the stalk of the bunch half through when the grapes are nearly ripe, and leaving them suspended on the vine till their watery part is evaporated; and as the rays of the sun are necessary to effect this, they are called Raisins of the Sun. They are also prepared by gathering the fruit when fully ripe, and dipping it in the ley made of the ashes

*In the early part of the reign of Henry VIII., there did not grow in England, cabbage, carrot, turnip, or any edible root; and even queen Katherine herself could not command a salad, till the king brought over a gardener from the Netherlands!

of burnt tendrils; after which it is exposed to the heat of the sun, or to that of an oven, till dry; the former are reckoned the finest, and are imported in boxes and jars, and the inferior in mats.

GRAPES.

Grapes were first brought to England in the year 1552, and planted at Black-hall, in Suffolk. They were cultivated in Flanders, 1276. The most extraordinary grape-vine in this country is that at Hampton Court, which came from Hamburgh. It is above 110 feet long; at three feet from the ground the stem is nearly thirty inches in circumference. It is of the black Hamburgh grape, and the quantity it bears in some seasons exceeds 2500 bunches.

ORNAMENTAL GARDENING IN ENGLAND.

The plantation and management of gardens, which form so useful and important an appendage to the dwellings of all classes, especially to the nobility and gentry, where adequate space can be allowed for their proper adjustment and cultivation, appears to have been first an object of attention early in the sixteenth century, during the reign of Henry VIII., whose taste led him to encourage horticulture. But it was not till the seventeenth century that it received its chief impulse under the fostering hand of Charles I., when flowers and curious plants were generally cultivated under the auspices of Parkinson, who first filled the office of herbalist to that monarch; and Tradescant, a Dutchman, who was his gardener, and established a botanic garden at Lambeth in 1629. The botanic garden at Oxford, the first public institution of the kind, was founded in 1632 by Jacob Bobart, a German, and from that time both botany and horticulture have been in a flourishing state. The Botanic Gardens at Kew and Cambridge followed in the middle of the eighteenth century; and the Horticultural Society of London was founded at the beginning of the present century.

The style and arrangement of the ground in its several departments, especially as regards the flower or pleasure garden, was not fixed on a permanent basis till about the reign of William and Mary, and was introduced by the Earl of Albemarle, who was a Dutchman, and has thence been called the Dutch style; a good specimen of it may be seen at Hampton Court, a favourite residence of king William. This style of yew hedges and formal avenues was long the prevailing fashion. The culture of the yew has ever been promoted in England from the time of the conquest; and few old churchyards are to be found that cannot boast their yew-trees.*

* At Bedfont, on the road to Windsor, in the churchyard, are two yews cut in topiary (clipped) work, among which are figures exhibiting the date of 1704. The tops of the trees are formed into the shape of peacocks.Lysons' Environs, Vol. v. p. 10.

CROCUS.

This flower derives its name from Crocus, a young man who, as Heathen mythology informs us, pined away into a flower, which has since bore his name. This flower, as affording saffron, is mentioned in Scripture in Solomon's Song, iv. 14, which was much esteemed as a medicine and as an aromatic, and entered largely into the cookery of our forefathers.

NARCISSUS.

This flower derives its name from the following mythological circumstance. Narcissus, son of Cephisus and Liriope, was so handsome that all the nymphs fell in love with him; but he slighted them all. Echo, among the rest, could not influence him to regard her; returning, however, one day from the chase, he looked into a fountain, and was so enamoured of his own beauty, that he languished away, and was metamorphosed into a flower, which from that time bore his name.

ACANTHA.

Acantha, a young and beautiful nymph, who, for having given a favourable reception to Apollo, was changed into a plant of the

same name.

THE COWSLIP.

"Cowslip, of all beloved, of all admired;

Thee let me sing, the homely shepherd's pride;
Fit emblem of the maid I love, a form

Gladdening the sight of man; a sweet perfume,
Sending its balmy fragrance to the soul.
Daughter of Spring, and Messenger of May,
Which shall I first declare, which most extol,
Thy sovereign beauties, or thy sovereign use?"

The Cowslip derives its name from a very old and fanciful, but now exploded idea that this flower was generated from the saliva of the cow's lip; to corroborate which, it has been stated, that it is only found in pastures where milch cows have grazed. It is, however, known as the Yellow-bell, and is classed with the blue and hare bell, and has made its appearance where the cow was never known to have been. Genial weather at the commencement of the year, dresses the meadows and pastures with this favourite of Flora.

THE DAISY.

Passing the eye from the hedgerow to the earth, it lights on the "wee-tipp'd" emblem of modesty-the daisy, sung by poets

of every clime where it blows, and so sweetly by our own Montgomery, who has designated it the Companion of the Sun.

"But this small flower, to nature dear,
While Moon and Stars their courses run,
Wreath the whole circle of the year,
Companion of the Sun."

That modest little flower, the daisy, derives its name from day's eye, arising from the circumstance of unfolding its simple beauties at the " peep o' day," and earlier than any other of Flora's tribe. -Flora's Guide.

"There is a flower
So sweetly fair,
In truelove's bower
It blossoms there;
Its smile of gladness

And azure ray,
Bids gloomy sadness

Haste far away.

THE VIOLET.

"At early morning

How sweet to rove,
Where 'tis adorning
The shady grove!
There chastely blooming,
It whispers, "be
Thou unassuming,

O man, like me!"

J. E. Stablschmidt.'

Violet, violin, violoncello, are all derived from viol, signifying sweet, applicable to either sound or smell: the latter syllables being merely to distinguish, or harmonize.

TULIPS.

"So beauty fades, so fleets its showy life,

As droops the tulip, clad in all its pride
Of rich array."

This beautiful but short-lived flower, was first introduced into this country by Lord Arlington, in the reign of Charles II. The tulip opens with the rising, and shuts with the setting sun. The bulb is termed by Linnæus the hybernacle, or winter lodge of the young plant, and closes the infant in its folds, which

"In some lone cave, secure pavilion, lies,

And waits the courtship of serener skies."-Darwin.

Tulip-fancying has been carried to great excess. It is related that a connoisseur in the fancy, hearing of a person having in his possession a black tulip, instantly ordered his carriage, and, proceeding to the possessor's residence, expressed a desire to see this rara avis, which was instantly shown him; upon which he immediately offered 100 guineas for the same! This was refused: two hundred was offered, but refused also; whereupon three hundred was bid, and the bargain struck. The virtuosi, on getting the tulip in his possession, immediately cut it in piecemeal before the astonished grower of it, exclaiming at the same time," Now, I am the only possessor of a black tulip in the whole country!"

It turned out that he had one in his own garden, but as he could not endure another to possess a similar freak of nature, he took this means to insure it.

WEEPING WILLOWS.

The first Weeping Willow supposed to have been planted in England, was by Pope, which for a long time was known as Pope's Weeping Willow. Martyn says, "The famous and admired weeping willow, planted by Pope, which has lately been felled to the ground (1801), came from Spain, enclosing a present for Lady Suffolk. Mr. Pope was in company when the covering was taken off; he observed, that the pieces of stick appeared as if they had some vegetation; and added, perhaps they may produce something we have not in England. Under this idea he `planted it in his garden, and it produced the Willow Tree that has given birth to so many others."

PASSION FLOWER.

This flower, says the elegant author of the "Flora Domestica," derives its name from an idea, that all the instruments of Christ's Passion are represented in it, viz.,-the five wounds, the column or pillar of scourging, besides the three nails, the crown of thorns, &c. Most of the Passion flowers are natives of the hottest parts of America.

DAMASK ROSE.

The Damask Rose was brought into England in the year 1522, from Italy, by Dr. Linacre, physician to Henry VIII.

LILY, &c.

The Lily came from the Levant, the Jessamine from the East Indies, the Tube-rose from Java and Ceylon, the Carnation and Pink from Italy, and the Auricula from Switzerland. Introduced in the reign of Charles II.

HOLLYHOCK.

This is merely a corruption from Holy-oak, a tree or flower held in much estimation by the Lady Abbesses and Nuns of old; and which abounded in the gardens of convents, it being considered by them as possessing sacred and protecting qualities.

ROSEMARY.

"Come, funeral flower! who lovest to dwell,

With the pale corse in lonely tomb,

And throw across the desert gloom

A sweet decaying smell.

R