Chapter 12
Nurseryman and Gardens

In these days, when garden centres proliferate and fruit and vegetables are sold at every corner shop, it is difficult to realise that in rural England before the Kaiser's war, most people were independent of such services. Thrifty people relied on gardens and allotments for vegetables, and local orchards provided those Blenheim Oranges and Norman Pippins which, carefully stored, lasted until apples came again. Housewives jammed, bottled and dried all kinds of fruit and made all sorts of queer things into wine.
The buying of 'shop' jam or tinned fruit was just not done by self-respecting wives. Nevertheless, Hillesley had its nurseryman in the person of Henry Bushell who lived and gardened at the Acreage. He had been a gardener at one of the big houses, I think Lasborough, and had married a lady who was cook there. He grew strawberries, currants and all kinds of vegetables which he sold in their due seasons. Mrs. Bushell sold drinks and home-made cakes at her door. My father killed two or three bacon pigs every week and Mrs. Bushell cleaned the chitterlings from them and also made faggots from the 'plucks'. It was my job to carry the 'innards' from the pigs to Mrs. Bushell and as long as killing was punctual she was very pleased and gave me sweets; if we were late she would scold and I would dread her sharp tongue.
I suppose the more skilled gardeners would send away to Sutton's and Dobies for their seeds. Whereas today we see an array of seed packets in almost every village shop, this was not usual in pre-war days. I think most villagers got them from the two seeds men iii Wotton. These were Sidney Isaacs, uncle of Mr. Charles Isaacs, and a Mr. Mann, grandfather of Howard Mann. I expect Mr. Mann still measures out seed from the same nest of little drawers which held seeds when Edward 7th was on the throne. They were talking of 'Onward' and 'Gradus' peas, of 'Wheeler's Imperial' cabbage and 'Arctic King' lettuce then, and many other vegetables of sixty years ago are still with us.
As I remember Hillesley gardens they seem to have had a much greater emphasis on things to eat. Not very many stretches of lawn then, and not many lawn-mowers to be seen, but I also remember garden borders of old-fashioned perennials which smelled very sweetly and on summer days were full of humming bees. Japonica and yellow jasmine were on many cottage walls, the beautiful "Marechal Neil" rose climbed luxuriously on many houses. What roses there were had each a lovely smell, and lilac and lavender scented most gardens.
The marvellous chrysanthemums now grown by enthusiasts were only to be seen in the greenhouses of the rich, while gladiolus, if there were any, were nothing like those we see now. The habit of buying bedding plants had not begun, people exchanged 'slips' and gave one another roots, budded their own roses and grafted their own apples.
More change had come in the apple world. Bramleys were just being planted, and at first thought little of - an apple pie, good cooks maintained, could only be made from Norman Pippins. The only apple worth eating for dessert was a Broadeye - or Blenheim Orange!