92 TRANSACTIONS OF THE ILLINOIS 



tion of nature, and so create for himself new sources of pleasure and 

 enjoyment ; so we have the historic record that gardening, as an art of 

 design or taste, is of quite ancient origin. In some specialties of the art, 

 it attained a high state of perfection nearly three thousand years ago. 

 The gardens of Solomon's time are described as highly artistic. The 

 gardens of Cyrus, and other Persian monarchs, were of great extent, laid 

 out in romantic situations, and noted for graat diversity of scenery. The 

 hanging gardens of ancient Babylon, adorned with terraces, are grapliic- 

 ally described by the early writers. Ancient Greece, after she had 

 attained wealth and power, and had made a great advance in the fine 

 arts, especially that of sculpture, made great improvement over her Per- 

 sian teachers in the art of gardening. Her gardens were extremely 

 elegant, and were ornamented with temples, altars, tombs, statues, monu- 

 ments and towers. They were as eminently fitted for public use as the 

 parks of our day, securing shade, coolness, fresh breezes, fragrance and 

 repose. The Grecian style of gardening was carried to Rome, and 

 received great attention during her days of affluence and wealth, especi- 

 ally from the early emperors. The French and Dutch copied their gardens 

 from the Roman style. It is said that glass was used to some extent in 

 these ancient gardens, to protect tender plants ; and rare trees, plants and 

 flowers were to be seen in them. 



When the glory of these ancient States was destroyed by cruel wars, 

 and the inhabitants swept off by pestilence and famine, the few remain- 

 ing relapsed into former barbarism, and our art languished and well-nigh 

 died. During those long, dark ages — rwhen religious fanaticism ruled the 

 world, and the arts and sciences were nearly blotted out — the rural art, 

 too, was sadly neglected or forgotten. But, with the revival of learning, 

 and the discovery of the art of printing, our art sprang into new life and 

 vigor. As in the early ages of the world, when men had abundant means 

 and leisure, and the sciences were studied and the fine arts cultivated, 

 our art flourished ; so in later times, when Italy took the lead in painting, 

 she also developed the geometrical and architectural style of gardening, 

 which long served for European models. France, Germany and Britain 

 imitated the Italian style, until the taste of man was sufficiently cultivated 

 to develop the English or natural style of landscape gardening, which is 

 now generally adopted both in Europe and in our own country. During 

 the last quarter of a century our art has received quite general attention 

 throughout the United States. The stimulus in this direction, and the 

 success attained, is, no doubt, largely due to the organization and work of 

 horticultural societies and the general dissemination of horticultural 

 literature. As in every department of human improvement and industry 

 time and means must be used, so every man of good taste in architec- 

 tural design requires some means above his present or near prospective 

 wants. No one can adorn and beautify his home with lawn, flowers, 

 plants, shrubs and trees, and no city can secure public pleasure grounds, 

 places, place-parks and park-ways, without incurring some expense. 

 The leading question is, Will it pay, in dollars and cents, to adorn 

 and beautify our homes, and to have large parks and extensive park- 



