486 [Senate 



another; for Moses says, Deut. xxii., 9, "Thou shalt not sow thy 

 vineyard with clivers seeds : lest the fruit of thy seed which thou hast 

 sown, and the fruit of thy vineyard, be defiled." 



The Persians, B. C. 500, were very fond of gardens, which Xeno- 

 phon says were cultivated for the sake of beauty as well as fruit. 

 King Cyrus, whose garden was at Sardis, conceived, disposed, and ad- 

 justed the whole himself, and planted a considerable number of trees 

 with his own hands. According to Pliny and other Roman authors, 

 in the gardens of limited description, the trees were arranged in straight 

 lines and regular figures ; and the margins of the walks covered with 

 tufts of roses, violets, and other odoriferous flowering plants. 



A tower was a necessary appendage to an eastern garden from the 

 most remote era — see Isaiah, v. 2. See again, 700 years afterwards, 

 Matt., xxi.j 33. Epicurus taught philosophy in a garden in the city 

 of Athens. Lord Bacon, in his learned Essay on Gardenings consid- 

 ers gardening as rather a neglected art in Greece, and makes the fol- 

 lowing striking and philosophic remark : " That when ages grow to 

 civility and elegance, men come to build stately sooner than to garden 

 finely, as if gardening were the greater perfection." All writers agree 

 in putting the fig at the head of fruit trees first cultivated, and thevine 

 as next in order. The use of flowers for preternatural, religious, fu- 

 neral, and medical purposes, like every other use, is of the remotest 

 antiquity. Bundles of flowers covered the tables of the Greeks, and 

 were worn during repasts, because the plants of which they consisted 

 were supposed to possess the virtue of preserving the wearer from the 

 fumes of wine, of refreshing the thinking faculty, imparting purity to 

 the ideas, and promoting a disposition to cheerfulness. The first im- 

 plement used in cultivating the soil, all antiquarians agree, must have 

 been of the pick kind. In the beginning of the sixteenth century, the 

 gardens of Peru had no other spade than a pointed stick. The Chi- 

 nese implement bears the marks of the highest civilization, since it has 

 a hilt or cross handle, and a tread for the foot, and consequently sup- 

 poses the use of sandals by the operator. It is said that the browsing 

 of a goat gave the first idea of pruning the vine, as chance, which had 

 set fire to a rose tree, gave the first of pruning the rose. The origin 

 of the art of grafting as yet remains a secret. It does not appear to 

 have been known to the Persians or to the Greeks in the time of Ho- 

 mer or Hesiod, and was communicated to the natives of Peru and 

 South America by the Spaniards. According to some authorities, that 

 singular people, the Chinese, were for many centuries back acquainted 

 with the best methods of European agriculture, and conferred high 

 honors on successful cultivators, the tilling of the earth being consid- 

 ered the first of duties : even the monarch of the " Celestial Empire " 



" Lays his sceptre down, 

 " Nor deems the task unworthy of the crown." 



Moses gave useful directions to his people on the culture of the vine 

 and the olive : " For the first three years, they are not allowed to ri- 

 pen any fruit." This contributed materially to the strength of the 



