SACRED AND CLASSICAL PLANTING. 



latifolias 'with its glossy Camellia like leaf, and glorions wealth of noble and stately 

 flowers. But our space forbids us to indulge in further description now. 



James RicnARDS02sr, Jr 



Deilham, May, 1852 



SACRED AND CLASSICAL PLANTING. 



BY JAMES GRIGOR, NORWICH, ENGLAND.* 



Tree planting in general has been actively prosecuted of late years; but there is one 

 section of arboriculture which has not, in my opinion, been carried to that degree of per- 

 fection of which it is susceptible. I refer to Sacred and Classical planting, or the congre- 

 gating together of such trees as are interesting purely on account of the almost holy as- 

 sociations which they invariably awaken. To some, this subject ma)^ appear to be but of 

 trifling import; to others, I am happy to sa}', the idea is fraught with an importance which 

 the uninitiated have little conception of 



To underrate any description of planting is by no means the object of this paper. Such 

 an attempt would meet with little sympathy in a country which in pure love for the syl- 

 van features of nature takes precedence of all the nations of the world. Yet, although 

 the ligneous productions of the earth, wherever found, are highly prized in this country, 

 there aie unquestionably some which, by association alone, are wrapped up in a more in- 

 teresting garb than others. It is true the trees of America, Australia, and India, are, 

 equally with those of Palestine and Greece, " tabernacula quae fixit Dominus," — "the 

 tents which the Lord hath spread;" yet, who hears in any of them those whisperings of 

 an antiquity loved and dwelt upon? Those countries may boast of their eternal forests, 

 but still they are unconsecrated. The American and Australian ligneous floras are espe- 

 cially devoid of any accompaniment derived from fame. The arts and sciences have as 

 yot no temples there which will be thought of in after ages, and, consequentl}^, no link 

 has been formed with existing objects or individuals. Poetry in those countries has not 

 yet taken up those images presented by their magnificent sylva, and set them to the end 

 of time in verse. Their forests, therefore, indicate only the changes in the vegetable 

 world everywhere going on — a gradual approach to maturity — that maturity gigantic and 

 long-lived — and then a like gradual descent to decay and death. Hence it is that the hum- 

 ble thyme plant, not a foot high, nourishing the apiaries of Ilymettus, lives in the recol- 

 lection of mankind, whilst the loftiest Platanus on the Ohio awakens no retrospective sen- 

 timent whatever. 



In these matter-of-fact days, it will be a.sked, of what use is biblical and classical plant- 

 ing,'' To this question it might be suflicient to refer to the numerous and earnest pages 

 that have been devoted by natural historians to such plants referred to in sacred and clas- 

 sical works, as are now of dubious identification; for example, the Mustard tree, the Hys- 

 sop, and the Lily of the valley; but it may be stated at once that planting such trees forms 

 a pure source of pleasure, inasmuch as it leads back the mind to some of the holiest and 

 best days of the world, and serves invariably to suggest some of the finest passages of its 

 history. To youth, especially, such trees form the best means for awakening the lights 

 of antiquity; all its greatest actions, all its holiest and sweetest spots, live in such pro- 

 ductions, and are thus easily impressed on the mind. In biblical times, we find the pa- 

 s expressing themselves in earnest language with reference to trees as ornamen 



* London Horlicullural Magazine. 



