out of the ground and are to be preferr'd to the other for that they come early in the year from February until April and are very sweet and well coloured The principal whereof is the great Oriental Hyacinth called Zimbul Indi or Pas too t or Celestial Hyacinth from its fair blossoms Some are more double as well white as blue and therefore are to be esteemed the vulgar are some white some of a cream colour others of a deep blue and some of a pale but all are very becoming a Garden in the Spring of the year before they are over-matched with Flowers of a nobler hue The nearest of kin unto the Hyacinths are Of Star-flowers the Star-flowers whereof some of them are valuable as the Ornithogalum Arabicum or Star-flowers of Arabia which flowers in May the great white Star of Bethlehem in June the Star-flower of Naples in April and the Aethopian in August These of Arabia and Aethiopia are tender and coming out of so hot Countries will not endure our severe Winters therefore their Bulbs must be planted in rich warm Earth in Boxes or Pots and secured in Winter from Frosts SECT III. Of Daffodills THE Narcissus is a Flower so well known that its needless to spend many words on it but for its great variety bright colour and early flowring the better kind of them deserve to be planted here and there under your Groves and Avenue's and other Shades where they prosper very well and waste no ground They are hardy Plants and multiply much some of them are white and sweet scented blowing late in the Spring some are single others double and others very double some bear many Flowers on a Stalk others but one so that from the end of February to the beginning of May they furnish you with Flowers for your Pots The Junquils are of the same kinds and afford some variety and flower much about the same time with the Daffodils The Leucoium or Bulbous-Violet is reckoned amongst the Daffodils it is sometimes called the Snow-drop because it shews its Snow-white Flowers sometimes in January and generally not long after for which early blowing it is esteemed SECT IV. Of Lillies UNder this Name have been of old many famous Flowers Some imagine the most illustrious Tulip was once intended by it when Solomon's Glory was esteemed inferior to one of them but there is little reason for that opinion for in Pliny's time near about the time of our Saviour's being upon Earth the Lilly was in great esteem than which no Flower was more in request in the choicest Gardens except the Rose which Solomon himself admired as well as the Lilly and then the Tulip was but a hedge Flower and so remains in the Asian Continent as is reported Neither is there any Flower of that transcendent whiteness an Emblem of purity and Innocency as the Lilly But there are of several Colours and Seasons Flowers that are of that Family As for the Spring the Crown Imperial single and double Crown Imperial orange-coloured red and yellow they are but dull Flowers Then there are the vulgar Red Lilly single Red Lilly and double whereof only the double is worthy your notice The White Lillies both single and double White Lilly are planted in most Gardens for their Colour and the use of their Roots which in Pliny's time added much to the reputation of the Plant. Of Martagons there is great diversity the Martagon Imperial the White white spotted Red and red spotted Yellow and yellow spotted with divers other variations but none of great value SECT V. Of Saffron Flowers THE Colchicums or Meadow Saffron so Of the Colchicum termed being first taken out of the Meadows These Flowers are called Naked Boyes because they appear naked out of the Earth and are withered and gone before the green Leaves appear Of these Colchicums there is some variety besides the plain colour some striped others chequered whereof the Colchicum Chio is the most beautiful but the double is the more splendid gracing your Garden in the Autumn when most other Flowers are faded All these variegated and double Flowers are to be esteemed for that they come so late in the year and make a delicate medly they put forth their green leaves early in the Spring following and when those wither they may be taken up and encreased and replanted about the end of August following The Crocus or saffron-Saffron-flower so called from Of the Crocus its resembling that Plant in Root Leaf and Flower There are great variety of these Flowers and much variegated or striped with White Yellow and Purple their three principal Colours They bring forth their pleasant but short Blossoms in February and March there are some of them Autuminal that flower in September and October as doth the true Saffron the Roots are taken up when the Leaves wither and planted again about a Month or two before their flowring time they increase very much and adorn the edges of Borders or close under Walls or Pales SECT VI. Of several other bulbous roated Flowers THere are several other bulbous rooted Flowers which for variety are to be entertained as the Moly whereof there are many Of the Moly different sorts that are in flower in May June and July and serve to mix in your Flower-pots and Chimnies they are planted and increased as other hardy Bulbs The Asphodils are of no great beauty but Of Asphodils may be planted and increased as other Bulbs for their variety As may the Phalangium or Spider-wort whereof Of Spider-wort there are the White and the Blue some flower in May and June but the Blue in August and September Gladiolus or Corn Flagg there are several Of Corn. Flagg sorts Red and white and serve only for Flower-pots and Chimnies are hardy and to be planted and increased as the other Bulbs Of the Satyrions or Bee-flowers or Gnat-flowers Of the Orchis there is some diversity they are taken out of the Fields and Meadows are very beautiful where they are remote from the place of their extraction they are very tender and therefore are cautiously to be removed they are to be taken up Earth and all unless you can observe to find them when dry you must endeavour to plant them in ground connatural to that from whence they came The Doggs-tooth Violet so called from the Of Dens Caninus likeness of its Bulb to Doggs-tooth there are of them purple Red White and Yellow they are much in esteem being brought far and difficult to be obtained not increasing in this Country they are planted in good natural not dunged Soil about the middle of August and flower in March The Cyclamen of Sowbread for their curious Of the Cyclamen and odoriferous Blossoms are received in the Gardens of the best Florists The Grecian Cyclamen from far they bring Rapinus The Red and White both flourish in the Spring Some sorts of them also flower in the
also it will be much altered by culture on its own Basis the wet being carefully drawn from it by declining Canals for that purpose Water being the only thing that maintains its stubborn nature if it rest on it But to accelerate the operation and make it speedily more benign Sand is an excellent Ingredient especially that taken up in the bottoms of Rivers or where hasty currents have left it at the foot of Hills or Sea-sand where it may be had Any old Thatch or corrupted Vegetables as Weeds Fern c. buried in the Trenches as you dig it drains the wet from it and makes it more mellow But above any thing Peat-ashes Turf-ashes or any Ashes proportionably and well mixed is the highest Improvement you can add to your cold stiff and moist Land There are several other Additions that will improve it as Rotten-wood Saw-dust the bottoms of Piles of Wood great and small but these being not to be had in any great quantity will serve only in these Beds where you intend to plant your choicest Flowers but Chalk Lime Marle and such like although they sweeten it at the first yet in the end it unites with the Clay and is soon converted into its own nature Chalky-Land usually yields a good rich surface therefore you must avoid planting too deep in it and where you can with conveniency the sinking your Walks and with the same matter to raise your Borders is a very good Improvement of this sort of Land You may also deal with it as with the Claiy-Land though in a more moderate way for Chalky-Land is naturally cold and therefore requires warm Applications and is also sad and will the better bear with light Composts which is the reason that Chalk is so great an improver of light hot and dry Grounds especially having suffered a Calcination Lands seated on Marle are usually very rich although cold and heavy you need not doubt of the depth of it for the turning it up and exposing it to the Air converts it into good Earth a mixture of light and warm Soyl exceedingly advantages it Sandy-Lands or Land that hath a competent mixture of Sand in it is the warmest and lightest of all and according to its fatness it is the most free and apt to produce the most of Vegetables you plant in it Sandy-Lands are best improved by mixture of Chalk Lime Marle the sediments of Ponds Lakes or standing Waters and need a more constant supply of such Additions than any other unless you have the command of some Spring or Stream of Water to irrigate it and prevent the Suns exhaling the moisture it so easily parts withal for we may constantly observe in rainy Summers what vast products Sandy-Land will afford us compared with the dry The same you will find in your Gardens but the hot Dungs are here to be neglected and the more cooling made use of The best for light Sandy-land is Cow-dung being cool and fat Some Plants delight in moist and boggy Lands and where the Scituation of the Garden will not afford a Natural Bogg an Artificial may be made if you have the command of a Spring to feed it or that you draw not water very deep to moisten it often by hand it may be made by digging a large Pit in such place you think most convenient where if the Earth be not tenacious enough to detain the moisture required you may line the bottom and sides with Clay well temper'd and trodden down and fill it with Earth taken from a Bogg in which being duely watered by some small current led thereto or by frequent irrigations your curious Aquaticks may be propagated as well as in the Natural There are several other sorts of Land that are known by several other Names which I might here enumerate but these being the general and most Lands falling under some or one of these capacities I shall not trouble you with them here brevity being my study But if your Lands or Grounds within the precinct of your Garden be somewhat of a different nature or quality from these before mentioned yet may those general directions as concerning that Land it is nearest of Nature unto serve for your Land And if you have any Trees Plants or Flowers that delight in Land different from the more general part of your Plantation then may you compound your Mould in some place proper for such Plant directions for which you will find dispersed in this succeeding Tract especially when I come to treat of Esculents CHAP. II. Of the Form of a Garden and its Fencing and Enclosing SECT I. Of the Form of a Garden F. H. Van. Houe fec pg 15. The Round is very pleasant and some curious Gardens there are of that Form in Forreign Parts The Walls about such a Garden are very good for Fruit the Winds being not so severe against a round as against a streight Wall The Walk also that circundates that Garden is not unpleasant for that you may walk as long as you please in it always forwards without any short turning some streight Walks there may be that tend from the Circumserence to the Centre The several Quadrants may be sub-divided and planted with Fruits the Borders of the round Walk and the cross Walks being sufficient for Flowers and Plants of Beauty and Delight At the Centre of this Garden may be placed a Fountain or in defect of water a Banquetting House or House of Pleasure A rude Draught of such a Form is here presented to your View the outermost Walk being adorned with Cypress Trees the inner parts of the Grass-Plats with Firr-Trees and the Quadrants within the lesser Circle planted with variety of Fruit-Trees and the principal Walks round and streight bordered with Flowers and delightful Shrubs and Plants Encompassed with a Pallisade in the Centre of your Garden is a Fountain of Spring-water always flowing serving not only to refresh the Spirits of such that delight in the sight of it but is necessary in dry and hot Seasons to preserve your choicest Plants from Injury The Square is the most perfect and pleasant Form that you can lay your Garden into where your Ground will afford it every Walk that is in it being streight and every Plant and Tree standing in a direct Line represents it to your Eye very pleasing The delight you take in walking in it being much the more as you are less careful For when you walk in a Round or Circle you are more subject to trespass on the Borders without continual Thoughts and Observation of your Ground You may divide the Plot you intend for your Gardens into three parts by Walls or Pallisades The middle part may be sub-divided into Gravel-walks Grass-plots edged with Borders planted with your most select Plants Shrubs and Flowers If your Partition-fences on the sides be Walls there may be raised the choicest Wall-fruits those that require most heat on the most Sunny-side and Fruits that râ—quire but little on the most
shady as Cherries and Plumbs will thrive where there is not much of the Sun and Currants flourish most where there is all Shade under such Walls that most pleasant Fruit the Rasberry delights to grow it being a Fruit wherewith that Northern cold Territory of Lapland abounds F. H. Van. Houe fec pg 17 But if your Partition-fences be of Pallisades they may be adorn'd with perennical Greens and other hardy Shrubs and Flower-bearing Trees The other two parts you may convert the one of them into an Orchard the other into a Kitchin-Garden which will be no small Advantage or Ornament to your Seat and middle Garden of Pleasure But if you are willing to celebrate so fair a spot of Ground as the whole Square to the delights of Flora then may you divide it into larger Squares and Grass-plots leaving only Borders on their confines for your variety of Plants The new mode of Gravel-walks and Grass-plots is fit only for such Houses or Palaces that are scituated near Cities and great Towns although they are now become Presidents for many stately Country Residencies where they have banish'd out of their Gardens Flowers the Miracles of Nature and the best Ornaments that ever were discovered to make a Seat pleasant But 't is hoped that this new useless and unpleasant Mode will like many other Vanities grow out of Fashion A Draught of the Square Garden I have here given you which may be varied as every Designer pleaseth each principal Walk is bordered with Flowers each principal Corner with Flower-pots and the middles of the greater Squares with Statues The farther end fenced with a Pallisade that the prospect of the adjacent Orchard may not be lost where now the Statues stand if Water be to be obtained Fountains would be placed with more delight The infinite variety of Forms that might be drawn and here represented to you would but encrease your Charge when perhaps every Builder may better please himself in the shape and contrivance of his Garden than any other can do for him But these few Rules are not amiss to be observed viz. That you endeavour to make the principal Entrance into your Garden out of the best Room in your House or very near it your Walks being places of Divertisement after a sedentary repast The Aromatick Odors they yield pleasant Refreshments after a gross Diet such innocent Exercises being the best digestive to weak Stomachs Let there be some other Door into your Garden for Gardeners Labourers c. And let your principal Walk extend it self as far as you can in length directly from your House Adorned with the choicest Plants for Beauty and Scent and that there may be a Succession of them through the Year not without Flower-plots which grace the best of Gardens If your Ground you intend for a Garden lye on the side of a Hill your Walks may be made the one above the other and be as Terraces the one to the other the declining sides of them being either of Grass alone or planted with Fruit. If your House stand on the side of a Hill and you must make your Garden either above it or below it then make your Garden below it for it is much more pleasant to view a Garden under the Eye than above it and to descend into a Garden and ascend into a House than on the contrary As for all other Forms and Scituations of Ground above your House you must vary your Models according to the place SECT II Of Fences and Inclosures to a Garden WHen you have discovered the best Land and pleased your self with the compleatest Form you can imagine for your Garden yet without a good Fence to preserve it from several Evils that usually annoy it your labour is but lost Your Fences must be considered of according to the place you reside in and nature of the Soyl and is either of Brick or Stone of Earth Pale Pallisade or Quick-setts Of all which the Brick-Wall is the best 1. Of Brick-Walls it being the warmest except Board and very dry and con-natural to Fruit. And where Brick are plenty it is not a dear Fence considering that their Form much accelerates the raising your Wall and their even Joynts require but little Mortar You may also make the Wall much thinner with Brick than any other Material Square Stone only excepted because you may make Nieches at a reasonable Distance or Square Pillasters on both sides or only one side which will support the Wall although very thin in the Intervals This Wall needs no other coping than Bricks set on edge side-ways without any over-hanging or dripping as hath been used By which means of building them thin in the Intervals with Nieches or Pillasters at fit distances and slender copings almost half the materials are saved in the building of them and most of the workmanship These Walls are very kind to Fruits under which they bear abundantly The Nieches and Pillasters conduce very much to the breaking off the cold Winds and shelter the Fruit from them Next unto the Brick Stone-Walls are preferred 2. Of Stone-Walls the square hewn Stone out of the Quarry especially Sand or Free-stone is the best the cold white Stone like unto Chalk or Lime-stone is not so good The rough Heath-stone or Burre is very dry and warm but by its unevenness is inconvenient to tack Trees against unless you disperse here and there in the building some small squares of Timber or Brick-bats in the Joynts whereof Nails will enter and take Flints are very cold and uneven Joynted and therefore the worst of all Stone for a Garden Fence All Stone Walls must be well coped left wet insinuates it self between the Stones and decay it in a little time A coping of Tyle is the best if made to carry off the drip 3 or 4 inches from the Wall In many places where Stone is dear and 3. Of Walls of Earth Brick scarce and Lime and Sand not near Walls are often made by a Compost of Earth and Straw tempered with it This Earth must be either of a clayish nature or have a little mixture of Clay in it it must be well wrought and mixed with long Dung or Straw which serves to hold it together until it be throughly dry and then according to the skill of the Workman wrought up into a Wall and covered with Thatch being not able to bear a more weighty coping These Walls well wrought and well coped and preserved dry will last many years and very warm and kind to Fruits that is to such that are content to be humble these Walls being rarely built high In the building these Walls pieces of wood or hooks of Iron ought to be placed in at convenient distances standing three or four inches without the Wall to which Poles or Rails are to be fastned and to them your Fruit-trees there being no tacking Trees to the Wall it self This way of Fencing is much used in some parts and
Winter removal The Cypress the Pine the Cedar and the Celastrus are more tender and although they are raised of Seed only yet ought they to be removed in the warmth of the Spring about March or April As also the Plants Slips or Layers of the Phylirea Alaternus Ilex Arbutus and Rosemary whether from Seed or Layers because they are brought hither from a more Southerly Country The Slips or Layers of all your gilded Plants deserve your care in removing them as the plain Trees of the same kind ought to be The Box the greater Tree-stone Crop Arbor Vitae Savin Platanus and the Paliurus are increased by Slips and Layers only which must be laid or slipped in the Spring and except the Paliurus may be removed all the Winter the Paliurus only in the Spring It is observed that it is the best way of planting the Box to strip away the Leaves from the Slip and not to wind the Stem but to set it whole without winding It is also said that every Slip of a Bay-Tree will grow if set in March the great Leaves being stript off but they must be shaded and sometimes watred if need require else they will not so easily take root The gilded Trees or Plants must be increased by Layers Slips or Graffs for it is observed that by raising them from Seed they degenerate by reason that the Hawes or Seeds of the white Thorn come not up the next year after they are sown It will be somewhat tedious for such as delight in Curiosities to wait for the production of the Glastenbury-Thorn from the Seed therefore the best and most expeditious way of raising this Rarity is by grafting it on a common white Thorn The Holly-Berry continues the like time in the ground before it springs but the Berries cleansed of their mucilage before they are planted very much accelerates their springing The Berries of the Eugh require the same ordering The Juniper Trees are propugated either by Plants taken from the Woods or by their Seeds or Berries which will soon come up CHAP. II. Of Flower-Trees AFter your Garden Avennes and Groves are reduced into such form as you dedesire and those adorn'd so far as necessarily they ought to be with those gracefull and immortal Greens and other pleasant Trees yielding shade and delight it then behoves you to furnish those intervals that remain and the borders of your Walks with Flowers the wonders of Nature for the richness and variety of their Colours Scents Forms and Seasons Amongst all which those Shrubs or Trees yielding so great a variety of those Objects are most to be prized and of these is the Rose to be preferred SECT I. Of the various kinds of Roses THere is no Flower-bearing Tree that yields so great variety nor any Blossoms so beautifull as the Rose nor do they only adorn but perfume your Gardens Now I perceive from whence the Odours flow While on the Roses kinder Zephyrs blow Out of the prickly Stalk the Purple-Flower Springs and commands the Vulgar to adore The Garden-Queen doth now her self display Soiling the Lustre of the rising Day Between the Tulip and the Gillyflower they are the greatest Ornament to a Garden whereof the yellow Province-Rose is the most beautifull 1. Of yellow Roses where it brings forth fair and kindly Flowers which hath been obtained by budding a single yellow Rose on the stock of a flourishing Francford Rose near the Ground when that single yellow is well grown in that Branch inoculate your double yellow Rose then cut off all suckers and shoots from the first and second leaving only your last which must be pruned very near leaving but few Buds which will have the more Nourishment and yield the fairer and more entire Blossom This Tree or a Layer from a Rose of the same kind delights most and blows fairest in a cold moist or shady place and not against a hot Wall The single yellow Rose is scarce worth the planting except for the use aforesaid The nearest in Colour to the former is the 2. The Austrian Rose Austrian Rose being but single yet in much esteem for its Blossom whose Leaves are of a Scarlet colour within and on the outside of a pale yellow The sweetest and most usefull of Roses is the 3. The Damask Rose Damask which in my Lord Bacon's time was by him observed not to have been in England above one hundred years of these Damask kinds there is one that beareth Blossoms with the first and so continues with new Blossoms untill the Frosts prevent it and is therefore called the Monthly Rose and is not inferiour in smell to 4. The Monthly Rose the Damask and deserves a place amongst your most select Plants this seems to be the Rose that Pliny mentions to be growing in Spain that blow and flower all the Winter The Damask Province Rose differs from the 5. The Damask Province Rose ordinary Damask in that only it is very double and fair but not so sweet The Damask-Rose with some of its Leaves 6. The York and Lancaster Rose marked with a faint blush is usually termed the York and Lancaster-Rose I suppose because it was the first variegated Rose that was here known after the uniting those two Houses or Roses But the best of Damask-Roses and inferiour 7. Mrs. Hart 's Rose to none other is the Damask compleatly striped usually called Mrs. Hart's Rose it is a very plentiful bearer the Flowers exceeding sweet and very beautiful and that Garden is defective that is without it There are two Roses bear the name of Belgick-Roses 8. The Belgick-Rose the one of a Blush Colour bearing many Flowers at the end of a Branch and those very sweet and this Tree is esteemed the greatest bearer of all Roses The other is of a red Colour very double and beautiful and in good esteem The ordinary Red-Rose is generally known 9. The Red Rose the Hungarian-Rose is little better and the Red Province is esteemed only for its fairness as is the Dwarf Red Rose for its humility The Rose that most illustrates the whole kind 10. Rosamundi is the Rosa-mundi being Red elegantly strip'd with White two so divers colours appearing plainly at a distance its Scent is weak but that defect is supplied by its Beauty The Marbled-Rose is a very fair red Rose 11. The Marbled Rose fully and curiously marked or dappled with dark Colours that it very much resembles Marble from whence it hath its Name and deserves a place amongst the best Roses The Velvet-Rose is the darkest of all Roses 12. The Velvet Rose and its Leaf much resembling Velvet it 's not very double but some more than others This Tree and the Rosa-mundi are very great Encreasers The Francford-Rose yieldeth large shoots 13 The Francford-Rose and is fit for the budding of the yellow Rose on it the Flowers not much to be commended nor is that of the Rose without
Room in your choicest Avenues This is another Tree that beareth the name 6. Syringa of Syringa or Lilac which never riseth so high as either of the other but beareth many Clusters of Flowers of a faint white or wild Primrose colour yielding a strong Sweet almost like unto that of Orange Flowers The double blossomed Pomegranate Tree is 7. Balaustium esteemed the rarest of all flowring Trees yielding so pleasant a Branch and a much more lustrious Blossom Pomgranates next their Glory vindicate Their Boughs in Gardens pleasing Charms create Nothing their flaming Purple can exceed From the green Leaf the golden Flowers proceed This Tree deserves the choicest place in your Garden and under the warmest Wall being tender whilst young but after very hardy the Flowers are double fair and beautiful exceeding all others born by Trees they are easily propagated by Layers This delicate Plant deserves a little of your Care and Assistance in separating from it the many Suckers that usually proceed from it and keep it to a few or but one Branch and sometimes enrich the Ground with well consumed Hog's dung For it is the plenty of Nourishment makes them apt to Blossom and too many Branches or Suckers rob them of it You need not House them but if you doubt your Wall stands too open to the cold Winds which only can hurt them it is but taking a Mat or placing a Skreen before them in the Winter to defend them from it The Dwarf Almond is a very humble Shrub 8. Dwarf Almonds bearing in April many fine Peach-coloured Blossoms and is a very pleasant Plant and yeilds plenty of Cions it deserves a place in your Garden and needs not to be Housed it enduring all Weathers In some Years it bears Almonds of a very bitter tast The Mezerion from whence soever transported 9. Mezerion is one of the most hardy Plants in Nature sending forth its pleasant beautiful and odoriferous Flowers in the coldest Seasons of this Northen Climate usually in January and continues in Blossom in February and March after them Leaves and then its Coralline Berries by whom it is increased The Shrub is of a very soft consistence and although Cold will not kill it yet is it very tender in the choice of its Ground I suppose a light Ground or a very moist are not proper for it Heat being more offensive to it than Cold. There are three sorts of them the one of a Peach colour another more red being not so 10. The Sena-Tree common the other and the most rare is the white There are two sorts of Sena-Trees the great Bastard-Sena and the Scorpion-Sena both of them yielding a pleasant Leaf and fine yellow blossom not unbecoming a good Florists Garden they are slender and require the help of a Wall endure all Weathers are tonsile and therefore reducible into any order and are increased by Seeds Layers or Suckers The Shrub Spirea is a small Tree bearing 11. Spirea Frutex small Peach-coloured Blossoms about the Month of August it 's a hardy Tree and is increased by Layers The Judas-Tree yields a fine purplish bright 12. Arbor Judae red Blossom in the Spring and is increased by Suckers and Layers The Bean-Trefoyl so termed from the likeness of its Leaves to the Herb Trefoyl and its 13. Laburnum Pods to Beans it affords many fine yellow Blossoms and is a very pleasant though common Tree it is increased by Seeds Cuttings and Layers and requires some artificial helps to support its weak Branches there are three kinds of these the smallest is called Cytisus secundus Clusii Not much unlike to the yellow Jessemine is 14 Spanish Broom the Spanish-Broom only its Flowers are like our ordinary Broom as are the Cods only larger It flowers in May and is increased by Seeds and Suckers The double Virgins-Bower is a climbing 15. Virgins Bower Tree fit to cover some place of Repose or to be supported by Props for that purpose it bears many dark blew double Flowers in July August and until the Cold prevents them You may cut off most of the smallest branches in the Winter it shoots early and spreads very much in a Summer it is easily increased by Layers There are of them single both purple and red but this is to be preferred The Honey-Suckle especially either of the 16. Woodbinds more generous kinds of it is a Plant which though vulgar yet deserves our Pains in propagating it The double and the red are the most choice and are easily propagated by Layers Periploca is a Plant that twists it self about 17. Periploca a Pole as doth the Hop it lives over the Winter and yearly puts forth small blew Blossoms is increased by Layers and entertained in Gardens only for variety sake and not for its beauty Of the Shrub-Mallow there are two sorts the Purple and the White they endure the 18. Althea Fruticosa Winter are usually planted Standards bring forth their Flowers in August and September until the Wet or Cold prevent them the Tree is increased by Layers The Blossoms resemble the Blossoms of a Mallow whence it hath its Name and is a fair Autumnal Ornament to your Garden for it buds and blows very late in the Year Hypericum-Frutex is a Shrub yielding abundance 19. Hypericum Frutex of small slender shoots which in May are very thick set with small white Blossoms that the Tree seems to be all hoary with Frost or covered with Snow It is increased by Suckers and endures all Weathers and very well becomes the choicest Gardens There is a sort of Peach-Tree yielding double 20. Double flower'd Peach Tree Flowers fair and beautiful deserves a place under your Wall The like there is of Cherries a sort that bears 21. Double flower'd Cherry a fair white Blossom very double but yielding no Fruit as doth that of the Peach yet a welcome Plant to a good Florist There are Apple-Trees and Pear-Trees that yield double Flowers but they are not so much regarded Thus by propagating and preserving such Flower-bearing-Trees and Shrubs may you have your Garden and Groves replete with great variety of curious Flowers from the end of January when the hardy Mezerion exposes its several coloured sweet scented Blossoms to your view until the cruel Frosts and Winds check the Monthly Rose Althea Fruticosa Virgins-Bower and white Jessemine and so throughout the whole Summer between those two extreams and that without the trouble of removing altering shading skreening from Cold or other inconveniences which most other Flowers are subject unto and are therefore much rather to be preferred yet if you are willing to undergo the little trouble of defending the Monthly Roses or White Jassemines you may have Blossoms from these later and Roses even until Christmas CHAP. III. Of Bulbous-rooted Flowers NEXT unto the Flower-bearing-Trees are those of Bulbous-roots to be preferred for their easie propagation and
A Cave or Pit made in some place in your Garden would be very convenient to place your Pots of Flowers in for there no Winds nor severe Frosts can annoy them the driving Rains also cannot much offend them The Morning Sun is the most benign to your Gilliflowers therefore you may defend your most choice from the Afternoon Sun by some artificial Skreen in case you have no place naturally posited for that purpose This to be done before and in blowing time To have Gilliflowers or Carnations as they are vulgarly termed from those ancient English Flowers that were usually of a Flesh Colour during the most part of the Winter they may be placed in Pots in some convenient Room open to the South and to be shut at pleasure to defend them from the Cold unless to give them the benefit of the warm Sun at Noon sometimes or a little Southerly Rain into which Room may be conveyed some warmth from your ordinary Fire or else a Fire therein on purpose I suppose a Lamp may be maintained burning at an easie Expence in a close Room which may be sufficient to defend them from Frost a constant though small Heat will effect much the Lamp may also be enlarged as the Room or severity of the Weathee requires the smoak of the Lamp may be conveyed away by a Funnel over it for that purpose thus may many other Rarities be preserved over the Winter at an easie Charge The Earrh about your Gilliflowers ought to be renewed once in two Years at the least for by that time they have exhausted the better and more appropriated part of the Earth or Soyl. Your Flower Pots ought to have holes in the bottom to let out the superfluous moisture and also in case you are willing to water your Flowers you may dip the Pots half way into a Tub of water prepared the one after the other and the Earth will attract the Water through the holes which is much better than sprinkling If you have any Gilliflowers that are broken small or single you may graff on them other Gilliflowers that are more choice but graff them in the most woody part of the Stalk the best way is by whip-graffing Pidgeons Dung being the hottest of Dungs applied about the Roots of Gilliflowers maketh them flower the more early To defend your Gilliflowers from the injury of Cold and Frost such of them that are placed in Beds and not moveable some have prescribed to take two slender Wands or bending Sticks and fix each end in the ground on each side of the Flower that the Sticks may Arch-wise be across over the Flower which is said to defend them by some Magical Vertue If your Gilliflower or Layer be inclinable to shoot up in the Summer with one single stem suffer it not to blossom that Year but nip or cut the stalk off lest it give you a fair Flower and never thrive after Pinks though mean Flowers singly of themselves Of Pinks yet the common red single sort of them planted on the Edges of your Walks against the sides of your Banks do not only preserve your Banks from foundring or mouldring down but when in Blossom are a very great Ornament and most excellently perfume your Garde Sweet Williams Sweet Johns and London Sweet Williams Pride are pretty Fancies and near of kin to the old English Gilliflower SECT II. Of Stock-Gilliflowers and Wall-flowers THE Lucoium or Stock-Gilliflower is a Flower Stock-Gilliflowers of much Beauty delicate Scent and some Variety a good Garden cannot be said to be well stored without them nor a Flower-pot well adorned without some of these they continuing long in Blossom from April till the Frost prevents them They are generally raised of Seed and the first Winter because they have not yet spent their finer Spirits they are very hardy and endure any Weather but the next Winter they are very tender With curled Threads and top-divided now Along the Margin of your Borders grow Stock-Gilliflowers whose blushing Leaf may fear And justly too the sharpness of the Air. The double whereof some are strip'd and some plain are very pleasant but the double yield no Seed The single have generally four Leaves in a Blossom but if there be five Leaves the Seed thence produced will bring double Flowers The white single usually produce double Flowers as also do those that are strip'd with white The yellow double Stock-Gilliflower is the most rare of any The Seeds of those kinds that usually produce double Flowers being often sown in the same Soil will degenerate into all single and by degrees into all plain Colours as I have tryed Quaere if they will do the same if sown in barren Earth There is another sort of Double Stocks that are not raised from Seed only by Slips and Layers that is more durable than the Seedlings Those raised of Seed will sometimes abide the second Winter if it be mild or the Stocks well defended if you take away the blowing Sprigs the precedent Autumn it will much further their duration They may be laid as other Plants are and being kept secure from violent Colds will endure the Winter They may be planted out in Slips if you take such as are not spired to blow and cut them from the Stock and slit the end in three or four places about half an inch and peel the Rind back as far as the Slit and take away the inward Wood Then set this Slip with the Rind spread every way about two or three fingers deep water it and shade it until it hath taken Root by this means may you maintain your stock of Double-Stocks without the two years expectation The Seeds from which you expect to have double Flowers must be sown at the full of the Moon or in two or three days after and when come up four or five inches high take them up and plant them out which prevents their running up to stalk which labour you may reiterate twice before Winter If you remove water and shade them every time to preserve them it being a Summer work and do it the first time three days after the Full and twice more before the next Change and again three days after the next Full and once more before the succeeding Change all these removes to be in barren Ground Then at the third Full Moon eight days after remove them again into rich Ground wherein they are to stand It is said that it Sir Hugh Plat. will make them bring forth double Flowers It hath been long observed that the Moon hath great influence over Plants over Animals it is very conspicuous From Pliny to this day most Authors have been of that Opinion And if it hath any such influence then surely it is in the doubling of Flowers for we daily observe that many sorts of double Flowers will degenerate themselves into single and that most of those double we have which are of the kinds usually single are
propagated by Art and Industry and why may not the Lunar influence contribute much thereto The French Poet was of that Opinion although differing as to the time Till it be full Moon from her first increase The Season's good but if she once decrease Stir not the Earth nor let the Husbandman Sow any Seed when Heav'n forbids 't is vain The same Poet adds Some in preparing of their Seed excell Making their Flowers a larger compass swell Thus narrow Bolls with curled Leaves they fill Helping defective Nature by their skill Often removing them doth not only contribute to their worth but duration The Keiri or Wall-flowers so termed for that the single kind naturally affect to grow on old Walls and that the double need the assistance of some Wall or other support are hardy Plants though not altogether secure in the most severe Winters and the better sort of them that is the double white and the double red very pleasant both to the Eye and Smell they are easily increased by Slips and Layers SECT III. Of Auricula's Cowslips and Primroses BEars-ears or Auricula's considering their Of Auricula's size are the finest Flowers the choicest Gardens yield affording a very great variety in Form as well as in Colour and are not only beautiful to the Eye but pleasant in Scent In your Election of them it is better to trust your Eye or confide in an honest Gardner than in the lame descriptions of them as before was hinted concerning the choice of Tulips and Gilliflowers only that the double is the most rare and the Windsor Auricula the most splendid of all the rest Of late years these Flowers are very much improved not only for their great variety of plain Colours and their bearing upright large Bunches of Blossoms but for their many beautiful sorts of stripes they yield that all the Colours that have been observ'd to be in that Flower plain are now found to be mixed in the various sorts of stripes that they are lately become the most beautiful Ornaments of the Spring The greatest variety and the most beautiful of these Flowers as well as of Tulips and Gilliflowers are to be seen in the Garden of the great Collector and Propagator of these and all other curious Plants and Flowers Mr. George Ricketts of Hogsder who supplies with them the best Florists They adorn your Garden in April and May and some of them again about the end of August and until the Frost prevent them If you crop off the Buds that offer to blow late in the Autumn it will cause your Auricucula's to yield you the fairer Flowers in the Spring They delight in rich Soyl and shady but not under the drip of Trees They must be often removed once in two years at least and the Ground enriched else they will decay The striped and double must be removed oftner or else they will degenerate If you set them in Pots which is the best way to preserve them fill the Pots almost half full with sifted Neats-dung the rest with a good light Mold enriched with the same Dung In the Winter place them in the Sun but in the Summer in the Shade Defend them from wet in the Winter but they endure all cold very well You may raise them from Seeds by carefully gathering the Seeds and preserving them in their Umbels till about August or September when you must sow them in Boxes almost filled with the Mixture you made for the Plants and about a Finger thick at the top with fine sifted willow Earth or dryed Cow-dung beaten small and mixed with the Earth in which sow your Seeds mixt with Wood-ashes then cover them with the same mixture of Earth sifted thereon about April following they will come up then may you plant them abroad and they will yield you Flowers some the August following others the next succeeding year There are sown very pleasant Cowslips of Cowslips several shades of Red the hose in hose the green Cowslip and the double Cowslip that are worth your Planting they are very hardy and must be sometimes removed or they are apt to degenerate The same is observed of the Primroses which Primroses yield the like variety of Colours and are entertained for their early welcoming in the Spring On a broad Leaf the Primrose first will blow SECT IV. Of the Lilly of the Valley and Hellebor THE Lilly Conval although wild in some Lilly of the Valley places Northward as many fine Plants are in one place or other is yet entertained in many good Gardens for its rich scent almost equalling the Orange-flower the use of this excellent Flower in several preparations and its specifick properties and vertues in some Diseases makes it the more acceptable it is easily propagated from Plants is hardy and delights in the shade The black Hellebor flowereth about Christmas Hellebor and for that cause only is respected and not for its Beauty the best sort of white Hellebor with red Flowers is a Plant in great repute amongst Florists it Leaves making also a comely shew and Flowers in April and May. Our Ladies-slipper an Helleborine is much Calceolus Mariae valued by most Florists although wild in many places of the North of England it is probable by reason of its Name occasioned by the likeness its Blossom hath to a Pantofle or Slipper It yieldeth its Flowers early in the Summer is a hardy Plant in respect of Cold but not very apt to be encreased SECT V. Of the Hepatica Gentianella and Dittany THE Hepatica or Liverwort is a very pleasant Hepatica humble Flower never rising high yet yielding its variety of pretty Blossoms in March the double and the white are most regarded and do deserve your labour and care which is not much to plant and propagate them The Gentianella is another very low Plant Gentianella yielding in April or May many Blue Flowers of a deep dye and are therefore regarded by most Florists Dittany Fraxinella or Dittany is a hardy Plant annually furnishing you with tall Stalks full of not unpleasant Flowers in June and July and is raised by Plants or Seeds CHAP. VI. Of Flowers raised only from Seed THE great diversity of Flowers we have hither to had the pleasure to name may be propagated by divers other ways according to their respective Natures than by Seed but there yet remain several Flowers not unworthy your care that are raised by no other means than by Seed as the Larks-heels or Larks-spurs whereof the Larks-spurs Tipt Rose Larkspur is the prime is a very pretty Flower and well becomes your Walks in July and August or early if sown before Winter and defended from the most severe Frost They are generally sown in April the best will degenerate being often sown in the same Ground The variety of Columbines single and double Columbines plain and strip'd makes them acceptable in a good Florist's Garden they are sown in the Spring