HORTICULTURE A GREAT GREEN CARPET 439 



culture. Another third is architecture; and the other third is common cleanli- 

 ness and decency." 



Dr. W. H. Camp tells us that gardening began twenty thousand years ago 

 when man first used cultivated plants for food. Many of these plants remained 

 as a matter of sentiment or because they had become associated with religious 

 ceremonies. Tulips, hyacinths, narcissus, Star-of-Bethlehem were first used as 

 bulbous crops, like onions and garlic. Others had medicinal properties, as 

 foxglove {Digitalis purpurea) from which is derived digitalis; and sweet 

 scabious {Scabiosa atro purpurea) which was used as a cure for the itch. 

 Rosemary, sage, lavender, and many mints were valued as herb plants. The 

 root of elecampane was used as a tonic. Its age is indicated by its name, which 

 is a corruption of the Roman inula carnpana. The garden pyrethrum {Chrys- 

 anthemum commineum) is closely related to the source of the insecticide, 

 pyrethrum, derived from the dried heads of C. cinerariaejolium, used to rub 

 on the body against lice and fleas. 



Perfume, too, had its value, as a substitute for soap and water in times 

 when baths were less frequent. The sweet-scented orris root was used as a 

 dusting powder. Rose petals, lilac, lily-of-the-valley — how many of the fra- 

 grances we value have come from flowers. The dye saffron is from Crocus 

 sativus. The drug colchicine is from the autumn crocus {Colchicium autum- 

 nale). 



According to Dr. Camp, the garden began its entry into the home when 

 the early Egyptians painted scenes on walls and floors. The cooler winters of 

 Persia brought these scenes indoors woven into rugs and wall tapestries. The 

 Romans put them on wallpaper. And so, many of our wallpaper, rug, and 

 tapestry designs trace directly back to the garden, through the Romans, the 

 Persians, and the Egyptians. It is worth noting that of 25,000 species of 

 plants which are cultivated about 10,000 are cherished for their ornamental 

 value as flowers. 



The Japanese and Chinese dwarf trees and potted plants are but attempts 

 at copying extensive royal gardens in miniature. Or, as Dr. Camp puts it, the 

 garden in a fish bowl is a direct lineal descendant of Chinese gardens which 

 Marco Polo saw; of Indian gardens in which Gautama (the founder of Bud- 

 dhism) preached; of the royal game preserve and hunting park which already 

 were common in Mesopotamia when Abraham left Ur of the Chaldees to 

 go over into the land of Canaan. The fish-bowl garden is therefore a miniature 

 Garden of Eden. The World Was My Garden, writes David Fairchild. "The 

 World in Your Garden," writes W. H. Camp. 



Someone needs to chronicle more completely the importance of Horticulture 

 to modern society. The fleur-de-lis appears in heraldry. The Chinese wfllow 

 pattern, involving peach tree, willows, and garden, is only one of many 

 familiar horticultural designs on dinnerware and dinner service. Rugs, tap- 

 estries, wallpaper, mural paintings, furniture, Corinthian columns, ironwork, 



