Cambridge Library Collection – Botany and Horticulture: A Treatise upon Planting, Gardening, and the Management of the Hot-House

This practical guide was first published in 1776: in this reissue of the two-volume 1777 second edition, the two volumes have been bound in one book. John Kennedy (d.1790) was the gardener to Sir Thomas Gascoigne, the owner of Parlington Hall in Yorkshire, and his book is addressed to landowners and their head gardeners. His concern is with ‘the planting of poor wastes, moorlands, and apparent mountains’, as well as with hothouse plants such as pineapples and vines, and delicacies including asparagus and cultivated mushrooms. At the other end of the scale, he also provides sections on field-cabbages, carrots and turnips as feed for cattle. In each of these areas, he gives detailed descriptions of the preparation of the ground, the tools needed, propagation techniques, and the subsequent management of pests and diseases. This is a fascinating treatise on the gardening skills needed on a grand eighteenth-century agricultural estate.