The Art of Gardening John Woolridge 1700

His first book was Systema Agriculturæ, or the Mystery of Husbandry discovered ... by J. W., Gent., [1668] which dealt with improving agricultural land with chapters on land drainage, and the use of clovers and vetches to improve the soil. He also invented a 20foot high device for watering melons.
He then produced Systema Horti-culturae or The Art of Gardening in three books. [1677] This is concerned with gardening for pleasure and Part 1 details how to lay out a pleasure garden, the trees and flowers but also the Grottos, statues and other ornaments such as springs and fountains. Part 2 is concerned with planting and looking after trees whilst part three deals with the kitchen garden including the enriching of the ground and the making of hot beds for forcing plants. Ours is the fourth edition of 1700 which has an appendix of a calendar called Monthly Directions – basically the gardening year.

William Hazlitt, the English critic, did not think Woolridge had been very systematic in his Systema because ‘he intermingles in his text, plants, herbs and trees in admirable confusion. The same page describes the evergreen oak, the tree stone-crop, the arbutus (which is the strawberry bush – I have one in my garden) and rosemary’ yet it is a book he would rather have than not have, ‘for it is replete with instruction and interest’.

The title page appears to be inscribed J Lucy (which presumably refers to Jane Lucy nee Bohun). Col. George Lucy married in turn the cousins Mary and Jane Bohun and both brought their libraries with them.