The author, a native of France, came to England to be gardener to Sir John Stapleton in Yorkshire. He soon moved south and farmed forty acres at Walham Green, close to where Earl’s Court now stands. Here he had a small vineyard, much admired by Peter Collinson who visited in 1765, and also cultivated grasses for cattle food, the subject of the present work, for which he was famous in his day. His brother was John Rocque, the cartographer.