DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49977#0181
KITCHEN GARDENING UNDER ELIZABETH AND JAMES I. 159
Mr. Carew was going to have certain trees sent home, and
“ I have already an orange tree; and if the prise be not much,
I pray you procure for me a lemon, a pomegranate, and a myrt
tree ; and help that they may be sent home to London with
Mr. Caroo’s trees ; and beforehand send me in writing a perfect
declaration how they ought to be used, kept and ordered.”
The answer to this letter is dated April 8th, 1562, from Paris :—
“ Sir, According to your commandment I have sent unto you
by Mr. Caro’s man, with his master’s trees, a lemon tree
and two myrte trees, in two pots, which cost me both a
crown, and the lemon tree 15 crowns, wherein, Sir, if I
have more than perhaps you will at the first like, yet it is
the best cheap that we could get it, and better cheap than
other noble men in France have bought of the same man,
having paid for six trees 120 crowns. . . . Well I think this
good may ensue by your buying it, that if the tree prosper
. . . you will not think your money lost. If it do not prosper,
it shall take away your desire of losing any more money
in like sort. My Lord Ambassador and Mr. Caroo were the
choosers of it.” He then gives directions for the “ordering” of
the trees, which were to stand out in some sheltered place during
the summer, and be lifted into the house for the cold months
from September until April. If the tubs were filled up with
earth, the plants could remain in them “ this two or three year,
so heed be taken that the hoops fall not away and that the earth
shed not.” The lemon ££ hath been twice grafted and is of four
years’ growth, and this year he would look for some fruit.”
How these particular trees flourished, we do not know, but one
of the older parts of Burghley House is the ££ Orange Court,”
a long room with many large windows where the trees were
sheltered for the winter.
This is one of the first instances of their importation, but
orange and lemon trees were great rarities in this country,
until many years later. Lord Carew, referred to in these
letters, is said to have had the first trees. On Sunday,
August 19th, 1604, James I. gave a banquet at Whitehall
to the Constable of Castile. “The first thing the King did
was to send the Constable a melon and half a dozen of
Mr. Carew was going to have certain trees sent home, and
“ I have already an orange tree; and if the prise be not much,
I pray you procure for me a lemon, a pomegranate, and a myrt
tree ; and help that they may be sent home to London with
Mr. Caroo’s trees ; and beforehand send me in writing a perfect
declaration how they ought to be used, kept and ordered.”
The answer to this letter is dated April 8th, 1562, from Paris :—
“ Sir, According to your commandment I have sent unto you
by Mr. Caro’s man, with his master’s trees, a lemon tree
and two myrte trees, in two pots, which cost me both a
crown, and the lemon tree 15 crowns, wherein, Sir, if I
have more than perhaps you will at the first like, yet it is
the best cheap that we could get it, and better cheap than
other noble men in France have bought of the same man,
having paid for six trees 120 crowns. . . . Well I think this
good may ensue by your buying it, that if the tree prosper
. . . you will not think your money lost. If it do not prosper,
it shall take away your desire of losing any more money
in like sort. My Lord Ambassador and Mr. Caroo were the
choosers of it.” He then gives directions for the “ordering” of
the trees, which were to stand out in some sheltered place during
the summer, and be lifted into the house for the cold months
from September until April. If the tubs were filled up with
earth, the plants could remain in them “ this two or three year,
so heed be taken that the hoops fall not away and that the earth
shed not.” The lemon ££ hath been twice grafted and is of four
years’ growth, and this year he would look for some fruit.”
How these particular trees flourished, we do not know, but one
of the older parts of Burghley House is the ££ Orange Court,”
a long room with many large windows where the trees were
sheltered for the winter.
This is one of the first instances of their importation, but
orange and lemon trees were great rarities in this country,
until many years later. Lord Carew, referred to in these
letters, is said to have had the first trees. On Sunday,
August 19th, 1604, James I. gave a banquet at Whitehall
to the Constable of Castile. “The first thing the King did
was to send the Constable a melon and half a dozen of