George Rickets, of Hoxton, was much noted about 1688 and 1689. Rea, in his Flora, says of him, "Mr. Rickets, of Hogsden, often remembered, the best and most faithful florist now about London." Rea describes, in his Flora, one hundred and ninety different kinds of tulips, and says, "All these tulips, and many others, may be had of Mr. Rickets." Worlidge thus speaks of him:—"he hath the greatest variety of the choicest apples, pears, cherries, plums, apricots, peaches, malacolones, noctorines, figgs, vines, currans, gooseberries, rasberries, mulberries, medlars, walnuts, nuts, filberts, chesnuts, &c. that any man hath, and can give the best account of their natures and excellencies." And again he says, "the whole nation is obliged to the industry of the ingenious Mr. George Rickets, gardner at Hoxton or Hogsden without Bishopsgate, near London, at the sign of the Hand there; who can furnish any planter with all or most of the fruit trees before mentioned, having been for many years a most laborious and industrious collector of the best species of all sorts of fruit from foreign parts. And hath also the richest and most complete collection of all the great variety of flower-bearing trees and shrubs in the kingdom. That there is not a day in the year, but the trees, as well as the most humble plants, do there yield ornaments for Flora; with all sorts of curious and pleasant winter-greens, that seemed to perpetuate the spring and summer, from the most humble myrtle, to the very true cedar of Libanus. Not without infinite variety of tulips, auriculaes, anemones, gillyflowers, and all other sorts of pleasant, and delicate flowers, that he may be truly said to be the master-flowrist of England; and is ready to furnish any ingenious person with any of his choicest plants."
John Cowel appears to have been a noted gardener at Hoxton, about 1729. He was the author of the "Curious and Profitable Gardener."
Hugh Stafford, Esq. of Pynes, in Devonshire, who published, in 1729, "A Treatise on Cyder Making, with a Catalogue of Cyder Apples of Character; to which is prefixed, a Dissertation on Cyder, and Cyder-Fruit." Another edition in 1753.
Benjamin Whitmill, Sen. and Jun. Gardeners at Hoxton, published the sixth edition, in small 8vo. of their "Kalendarium Universale: or, the Gardener's Universal Calendar." The following is part of their Preface:—"The greatest persons, in all ages, have been desirous of a country retirement, where every thing appears in its native simplicity. The inhabitants are religious, the fair sex modest, and every countenance bears a picture of the heart. What, therefore, can be a more elegant amusement, to a good and great man, than to inspect the beautiful product of fields and gardens, when every month hath its pleasing variety of plants and flowers. And if innocence be our greatest happiness, where can we find it but in a country life? In fields and gardens we have pleasures unenvied, and beauties unsought for; and any discovery for the improvement of them, is highly praiseworthy. In the growth of a plant, or a tree, we view the progress of nature, and ever observe that all her works yield beauty and entertainment. To cultivate this beauty, is a task becoming the wealthy, the polite, and the learned; this is so generally understood, that there are few gentlemen of late, who are not themselves their chief gardeners. And it certainly redounds more to the honour and satisfaction of a gardener, that he is a preserver and pruner of all sorts of fruit trees, than it does to the happiness of the greatest general that he has been successful in killing mankind."
Samuel Trowel, of Poplar, published, in 1739, A New Treatise of Husbandry and Gardening; 12mo. 2s. 6d. This was translated in Germain, at Leipsig, 1750, in 8vo.
Rev. Francis Coventry, who wrote an admirable paper in the World, (No. 15,) on the absurd novelties introduced in gardens. He wrote Penshurst, in Dodsley's Poems.
James Justice, Esq. published the "Scot's Gardener's Director," 8vo. A new edition, entitled "The British Gardener's Director, chiefly adapted to the Climate of the Northern Counties," was published at Edinburgh, 1764, 8vo. The Encyclopædia of Gardening calls his book "an original and truly valuable work;" and in page 87, 846, and 1104, gives some interesting particulars of this gentleman's passion for gardening.
John Gibson, M.D. author of "The Fruit Gardener," to which he has prefixed an interesting Preface on the Fruit Gardens of the Ancients. In this Preface he also relates the origin of fruit gardens, by the hermits, and monastic orders. In his Introduction, he says, that "every kind of fruit tree seems to contend in spring, who shall best entertain the possessor with the beauty of their blossoms. Mankind are always happy with the prospect of plenty; in no other scene is it exhibited with such charming variety, as in the fruit garden and orchard. Are gentlemen fond of indulging their tastes? Nature, from the plentiful productions of the above, regales them with a variety of the finest flavours and exalted relishes. To cool us in the heat of summer, she copiously unites the acid to an agreeable sweetness. Flowering shrubs and trees are often purchased by gentlemen at a high price; yet not one of them can compare in beauty with an apple tree, when beginning to expand its blossoms."[52] Speaking of the greengage, he says, "its taste is so exquisitely sweet and delicious, that nothing can exceed it." He enlivens many of his sections on the cultivation of various fruits, by frequent allusions to Theophrastus, Virgil, Pliny, and other Rei rustica scriptores. His chapter on Pears, (the various kinds of which possess "a profusion of sweets, heightened by an endless variety of delicious flavours,") is particularly profuse. So is that on Apples.
James Rutter published, in 1767, Modern Eden, or the Gardener's Universal Guide; 8vo.
John Dicks published, in 1769, The New Gardener's Dictionary; in sixty numbers, small folio, 30s. Blyth.