SUMMER MEETING AT BROOKFIELD. 175 



all with the name and title of Nebuchadnezzar. There also have been 

 found fragments of sculptured stone and slabs bearing the following 

 inscription : " Grana, Palace of Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, 

 Son of Nabopolasser, King of Babylon, who walked in the worship of 

 Nebo and Merodach, his lords." 



On the summit of the huge ruin grows a single tree, a tamarisk in 

 kind, but altered past recognition by time and exposure. The simple 

 Arabs declare it to be of a species not found elsewhere on the globe, 

 and believe it to be the last distorted remnant of the wonderful Hang- 

 ing garden of Nebuchadnezzar. 



Several hundred years later, when the history of Babylon was 

 already ancient, another nation and people, vastly different from the 

 luxurious Orientals, moulded the world's thought from the shores of 

 western Europe. 



The history of the East is henceforth but an occasional episode. 

 The despotism of the eastern satraps is replaced by a democracy. The 

 patriotism of the common people is replaced by the active patriotism 

 of the Greeks. The once fabulously beautiful, imperial garden we ex- 

 pect to find replaced by numerous smaller gardens more in accordance 

 with democratic ideas. 



In this historic land, to which we owe much of the life we live to- 

 day, much of our love for the arts, much of our love of personal lib- 

 erty — in this land which stands at the summit of the cultured world 

 what may we not expect in the pleasing art of floriculture ! 



With disappointment we learn that little is known of gardening 

 among the Greeks, but it was certainly at a low ebb as regards the or- 

 namental part. 



Writers on the subject are reproved for disregarding the Greek 

 garden, but the ancients themselves have not thought the subject worth 

 mention. 



From the time of the Persian rulers down to the latest Roman pe- 

 riod, hardly a mention is made of gardens and gardening. 



Several reasons may be given for the Greek neglect of the art ; 

 their flora was insignificant, they admired beauty in the natural world 

 only as it could be used in the arts, the gardens and households of the 

 cultured class were cared for entirely by slaves ; and lastly, the pride 

 of the people was in the public buildings and not in the homes of the 

 land. 



The oft-mentioned "groves of the gods" were composed mostly of 

 fruit trees. Flowers were grown simply for cutting. The blossoms 

 most cultivated were those appropriate for chaplets. and in these there 

 was a regular trade. 



