Back when gardening was a growing profession

The aple, the plumbe and the burtet Grape which wery scildum rip are among the happy contents of The Tradescants Orchard, just as they were the welcome components of the orchards at Hatfield House in Hertfordshire.

They were grown for Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury, and son of that William Cecil, Lord Burghley, who was for many years the chief minister to Queen Elizabeth I. They are presented here in a collection of water-colour plates originally gathered under the title A Book of Fruit Trees with their Fruits.