Cottonwood report. [volume] (Cottonwood, Idaho) 1893-1901, 1896-05-08
rnE GARDEN IN ENGLISH HISTORY
II Was the Old Monks who Grew the
FloWers in EarIy England.

The gardens of England, so far as now
an actually be traced, began about the
eleventh century, and they were chiefly
'ormed around the great religious houses
says the London Evening Standard. The
nonks were, in truth the pioneers OF
he art, and they pursued it on strictly
ltilitarian principles. Flowering plants
Tor several centuries were not regarded as
worthy OF cultiva ton merely on account
Of their beauty. The garden existed to
supply vegetables and medicinal herbs,
but as roses, lilies, violets and peoples
we're all supposed to possess mysterious
curative virtues, even monastic gardens
often made brave show. Many choice
plants probably found their way to Eng
fish soil through the connection which
was kept up by the monks with their
brethren in other religious houses on the
continent. The first abbot of Ely was re-
nowned for his skill in planting and graft
ng, and the orchards and gardens which
he made attracted attention. Henry VI
oequea thed a garden to the church of Elton
college, and at Winchester a piece of
ground on the east side of the north tran
sept of the cathedral still bears the name
Of Paradise, and marks the site of the
sacristans garden.
In medieval England, at all great func
lions, the priests We're crowned with flow
ers, and the use of these coronae sacerdo-
dals UP to the time of the reformation
can be traced in various parish accounts.
Miss Amherst gives instances of such en-
tries at the end of the 18th and the be-
ginning of the 18th centuries. After the
reformation the decoration of churches
was abandoned, and the gardens, in con-
sequence, fell into disuse, even where the
lands they covered were not appropriated
for other purposes. The orchards attach
ed to religious houses were often of large
extent and that of Lanthony prory COW
cred y acres. They had to supply not
only fruit for the table, but also apples for
cider, and the supply was not always
equal to the demand. Peterborough,
Hereford, Cambridge, Abingdon, Canter-
bury, Bury ST. Edmunds possessed monas-
tic houses, to all of which vineyards were
attached. The Knights Templar in their
wandedings in the east did not forget the
gardens of England, and brought back
from the crusades exotic plants. such as
the splendid oriental plane at Ribston. The
reign of the Virgin Queen gave great
impetus to horticulture, and the Eliza
bethan garden took what was most typical
IN the old monaStc plan and com DlneQ II
with new ideas imported from France,
Italy and Holland, and in this way the
primitive medieval garden grew in the
stately pleasaunce of the Tudor sover-
eigns. The gardens of this period were
laid out strictly in connection with the
house. and were always designed by its
architect. The peculiar geometric tracery
which ornaments so many EliZabethan
houses found its counterpart In designs
of the flower beds The terrace walk, the
yew hedge, the arbor, the maze and the
fountain grew common, and in the greater
gardens the fish pond gave place to the
lakes. The sun dial appears to have come
into vogue in the nth century. Occasion
ally an entire garden was laid out like a
sun dial, the figures being planted in box
or yew. There is a good example of one
after this design at Wentworth, Stain
borough which was made in 1892 in which
the letters are of box and the style of
yew." The first botanical garden in Eng
land was founded and endowed by the earl
of Dandy, at oxford, early In the reign of
Charles I. The royal gardens at Kew
were begun by the princess of Wales,
mother of George III, at the time of that
monarch's accession, and in less than a
century they became famous throughout
Europe as a seat of botanical knowledge
and horticultural skill.