1886.] liEMAEKS ABOUT PLANTING. 681 



uas sought to diffuse pure science among the people only under a 

 veil of mysticism. Thus in tree-worship a means was found for 

 saving the much menaced woods of Greece. Consequently the 

 ancient Athenians regarded their woods as protective plantations 

 only, and drew their timber supplies for building houses and ships 

 from other countries. According to the notes of Dr. Chloros of 

 Athens on Theophrastus, liis work on the history and physiology of 

 plants contains so much rich and interesting material on forest 

 subjects, that Theophrastus has claims to be considered the founder 

 not of botany only, but of forestry also. 



It may be proved that the Greek colonies introduced into Italy 

 the cultivation of trees, and that, following the example of Alexander 

 the Great, they planted large tree gardens in Italy also, in order to 

 enjoy the chase in them. Horace and others tell that in all towns 

 forest trees were planted with great care around the dwelling- 

 houses, although it seems that plantations were not treated in large 

 masses in the manner of forestry. Varro, however, in his De re 

 rusticd, and some other Eoman writers, make mention of trees, 

 which were utilized in the woods by means of one single felling 

 {Arhores cceduce), and of other trees which produce stool shoots 

 (Siicciscc rcfullulant). From several such passages it may be con- 

 cluded that even the Eomans had some idea of forest working. 



Between the Grieco-Eoman civilisation and that of the Middle 

 Ages lies a great chasm, the epoch of general neglect and waste. 

 It was not till the end of the sixteenth century, when the inacessi- 

 bility of the natural forests, which had formerly supplied timber and 

 fuel, made itself felt, — it was not till then that a beginning was 

 made with the laying-out of artificial plantations. In England, 

 according to Benose, writing in 1538, and Fitzherbert, in 1539, 

 improved agriculture necessitated hedges and beltings of trees for 

 shelter. In ancient times in England the forests had been valued 

 not so much for their quantities of timber and fuel, as for the 

 number of swine which could be fed in them. But noAv in the 

 sixteenth century the increasing custom of moving away from the 

 old fortified towns and villages into isolated hamlets, led to the 

 surrounding of dwellings with planted trees. This is the reason, 

 too, wliy in still later times trees are there cultivated not for their 

 ordinary uses only, but as objects which characterize and mark out 

 a district. 



The publication of Evelyn's Sylva in 1664 awakened a great 

 taste for planting, and created in this branch of rural economy a 

 new era. At a later period the English Society of Arts, founded in 

 1753, by its distribution of awards and money prizes, contributed 

 much to the keeping of this taste alive. The splendid new edition 



