DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49977#0311
NINETEENTH CENTURY.
289
Hackney, and there started a nursery garden. His first book,
Every Man his own Gardener, came out in 1767, and he
was so afraid of failure that he paid Mawe, gardener to the
Duke of Leeds, the sum of £20 to allow his name also to
appear on the title-page. Hence the book has become known
as the work of Mawe and Abercrombie, although the latter
wrote it entirely. His other writings, Amateur Gardening,
The Gardener’s Daily Assistant, and such like, were equally
popular. Another book of this date, by Wm. Hanbury, also
gives full directions for the cultivation of a great number of
trees, shrubs, perennial and annual hardy flowers, and green-
house and stove plants.* Among those mentioned in these
books we find many things which had just been introduced,
such as the Pontic Rhododendron, Azalea nudiflora, or
“ American upright honeysuckle,” as Hanbury calls it ;
Andromeda polifolia, varieties of Allspice (Calycanthus) of
Sumach (Rhus) and of Magnolia (grandiflora and others), the
snowdrop tree (Halesia), Hydrangias, and Spireas, and other
hardy plants. There were also many additions to the half
hardy and stove plants. Crinum capense or “ lily Asphodel,”
and the more tender Belladonna lily (Amaryllis Belladonna).
The Scarborough lily (Vallota purpurea) appeared about this
time ; the same kind of story being told of its origin as of
that of the Guernsey lily (N trine sarniensis), which was said
to have grown in Guernsey from bulbs washed ashore from a
wreck of a ship from Japan about 1659. The camellia or
“Japanese rose” (Camellia japonica) was grown by the
middle of the eighteenth century. The “ gardenia, or the
Cape Jasmine” (Gardenia florida), Plumbago (rosea) and other
“ tender sorts of leadwort,” the Gloriosa superba, and
Allamanda (Allamanda cathartica) were among the climbing
plants which adorned the stove.
Some families of plants were becoming so conspicuous as
to have a special literature of their own. The geraniums and
heaths were treated of by Andrews, the Mesembryanthemums
* Complete Body of Planting and Gardening. By Wm. Hanbury, 1770.
2 vols. folio.
19
289
Hackney, and there started a nursery garden. His first book,
Every Man his own Gardener, came out in 1767, and he
was so afraid of failure that he paid Mawe, gardener to the
Duke of Leeds, the sum of £20 to allow his name also to
appear on the title-page. Hence the book has become known
as the work of Mawe and Abercrombie, although the latter
wrote it entirely. His other writings, Amateur Gardening,
The Gardener’s Daily Assistant, and such like, were equally
popular. Another book of this date, by Wm. Hanbury, also
gives full directions for the cultivation of a great number of
trees, shrubs, perennial and annual hardy flowers, and green-
house and stove plants.* Among those mentioned in these
books we find many things which had just been introduced,
such as the Pontic Rhododendron, Azalea nudiflora, or
“ American upright honeysuckle,” as Hanbury calls it ;
Andromeda polifolia, varieties of Allspice (Calycanthus) of
Sumach (Rhus) and of Magnolia (grandiflora and others), the
snowdrop tree (Halesia), Hydrangias, and Spireas, and other
hardy plants. There were also many additions to the half
hardy and stove plants. Crinum capense or “ lily Asphodel,”
and the more tender Belladonna lily (Amaryllis Belladonna).
The Scarborough lily (Vallota purpurea) appeared about this
time ; the same kind of story being told of its origin as of
that of the Guernsey lily (N trine sarniensis), which was said
to have grown in Guernsey from bulbs washed ashore from a
wreck of a ship from Japan about 1659. The camellia or
“Japanese rose” (Camellia japonica) was grown by the
middle of the eighteenth century. The “ gardenia, or the
Cape Jasmine” (Gardenia florida), Plumbago (rosea) and other
“ tender sorts of leadwort,” the Gloriosa superba, and
Allamanda (Allamanda cathartica) were among the climbing
plants which adorned the stove.
Some families of plants were becoming so conspicuous as
to have a special literature of their own. The geraniums and
heaths were treated of by Andrews, the Mesembryanthemums
* Complete Body of Planting and Gardening. By Wm. Hanbury, 1770.
2 vols. folio.
19