suchlike provision, still continues. In Pasquin's Palinodia, 1634, 4to, it is merrily observed, that on this day every stomach, 66 Itill it can hold no more, Is fritter-filled, as well as heart can wish; And every man and maide doe take their turne To see the pancakes fall upon the ground." ASH WEDNESDAY. The name of Ash Wednesday proceeded from a custom in the ancient Church, when, on the first day of Lent, the penitents presented themselves before the Bishop clothed with sackcloth, and in the presence of the clergy, who were to be judges of the sincerity of their repentance. After the seven penitential psalms and prayers had been repeated, the penitents were conducted to the church-doors, the clergy following after, and repeating the curse upon Adam, "In the sweat of thy brows shalt thou eat thy bread." The English Church, in her service for this day, laments the disuse of this discipline, and has supplied the want of it by the office called Commination. AGRICULTURE, HORTICULTURE, VEGETABLES, FRUITS, PLANTS, FLOWERS, BEVERAGES, &c. AGRICULTURE, AN ACCOUNT OF ITS PROGRESS. The Romans were great agriculturists, and it is well known they took many of their great generals from the plough. The Egyptians ascribe the invention of agriculture to Osiris; the Greeks to Ceres and her son Triptolemus; and the Italians to Saturn, or Janus. But the Jews, with more reason, ascribe this honour to Noah, who, immediately after the flood, set about tilling the ground and planting vineyards. Agriculture has been the delight of the greatest men. We are told, that Cyrus the younger planted and cultivated his garden, in a great measure, with his own hands. Holinshed says, when Cæsar invaded Britain, agriculture was unknown in the inner parts; the inhabitants fed upon milk and flesh, and were clothed with skins. Julius Cæsar (says his history) was of opinion, that agriculture was first introduced into Britain by some of those colonies from Gaul, which had settled in the southern part about 100 years before the invasion. It appears they were not unacquainted with the use of manures, particularly Marle. Pliny tells us, that it was peculiar to the people of Gaul and of Britain; that its effects continued eighty years; and that no man was known to marle his fields twice. The establishment of the Romans in Britain produced great improvements in agriculture, insomuch that prodigious quantities of corn were annually exported from the island; but when the Roman power began to decline, this, like all other arts, declined also; and was almost totally destroyed by the departure of that people. Towards the 14th century agriculture revived, and received very great improvements; and in the 15th it seems to have been cultivated as a science, being no less an honourable than a profitable art. The science of agriculture has received great improvements during the last 30 years, not only from the formation of Agricultural Societies and their Annual Exhibitions, but also from an improved method of husbandry, and the introduction of new and highly productive manures, of which Guano is the chief, which is now imported in large quantities from Peru. Guano does not appear to have been discovered till the end of the 16th century. The first mention that is made of it is in a work published at Seville in 1590. NATIVE FRUITS OF ENGLAND. It is a curious fact, and but very little known, that the only native fruits of England are, the Blackberry or Bramble, the parent of Raspberry, which is itself found wild in many parts of Scotland and Wales; the strawberry; the crab, the parent. of the present immense variety of apples, all of which are of foreign origin, and mostly produced by grafting on crab stocks; the sloe, the parent of the several kinds of plums; the pear is found wild in Britain, and is in its native state a thorny tree; all the varieties of pears, like apples, are of foreign origin. They are raised from seeds, which are afterwards used as stocks. The cloud-berry, a native of the mountains of Scotland, North of England, and Wales; it is allied to the Bramble or Raspberry. -The Gooseberry is found wild in many parts of Britain. It has several varieties, which have been produced by seed. It is cultivated with greater success in Lancashire than in any other county in England.-Currants are found wild in the North of England and Scotland, but the fruit is small. PLOUGHING. Ploughing itself is certainly a singular instance of great skill, acquired by a body of men who scarcely receive the credit due to that skill. A good ploughman will set up a pole a quarter of a mile distant or more, and keeping this mark, almost invisible, steadily in his view, will, on land perfectly smooth, trace up to that goal, until his horses knock it down as they pass on each side, a furrow so true that no eye can detect any divergence from absolute straightness. If one saw for the first time, a field of short green clover converted in a few hours into a surface of clean brown soil in regular ribs, it would be regarded as a triumph of art. This is important, because in speculative writing the plough is sometimes depreciated and the spade is extolled, though this very operation of preparing our wheat land could scarcely be executed at all by spade, since it is necessary that the existing sward should be perfectly buried. RIBSTON PIPPIN. The late Sir Harry Goodricke brought this apple from Italy, and as it was first grown in this country, at his residence, Ribstone Hall, in the county of York, where the original tree was still growing a few years since, it received the appellation of Ribston, or Ribstone Pippin. CURRANTS. Currants, or Corinthian Grapes, so called because they came from Corinth. They were first brought into England in 1534, from the Isle of Zant, belonging to Venice; the musk rose, and several sorts of plums, came from Italy the same year; they were brought and planted by Lord Cromwell. The English name of Currant is evidently derived from the small Corinthian grape sold under that name by grocers. The English currant is, however, a different plant, and bears no resemblance to the vine which produces the former. CHERRIES. Faulkner says that this fruit was introduced into Britain about the year 53. The Anglo-Saxons are said to have lost it, and Richard Harris, fruiterer to king Henry VIII., to have re-imported it; but good native cherries have been found in Norfolk, and they were known in the thirteenth century. It appears they were commonly sold in the streets of London, in the time of Lydgate, who mentions them in his poem, called 66 Lickpenny:" "Hot pescode own began to cry, Strawberys rype, and Cheryes in the ryse.” The "Guardian" of July 2, 1713, mentions, that cherries were sold upon sticks above 100 years ago. FILBERTS. The nut, called Filbert, derives its name from Philipert, king of France, who was exceedingly fond of them. 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. |