SACRED AND CLASSICAL PLANTING. 



Full of the traditions of his country, and accustomed to hear the Myrtle associated so 

 constantly with such traditions, it is not to be wondered at that this plant was adopted by 

 him as the sine qua non to temples, gardens, streams, and splashing fountains. In the 

 festival of Europa, at Corinth, a myrtle crown, said to be ten yards in circumference, was 

 borne in procession through the cit}^. The priests of Aphrodite shaded their foreheads 

 with wreaths of myrtle, and the statue of that matchless goddess herself was often crown- 

 ed with a circlet of the same plant. It was worn by the Athenian magistrates, as well as 

 by all those who had gained bloodless triumphs. It was the reward of victors in the 

 Olympic games; and at Rome the ladies put the leaves into their baths, fiincyingthat this 

 plant of Venus must be favorable to beauty. The general selection of the Myrtle was well 

 made; for it is questionable whether any other would have stood the test of being used 

 in such multifarious wa^'s, and especially as ornaments to the masterpieces both of nature 

 and art. In all classical groups this tree should have a prominent place; and in order to 

 encourage such planters, I may mention that young plants nine inches high stood out in 

 my nursery last winter uninjured. The cause of its succeeding so indifferentlj'^ as an open 

 air plant, in Britain, is certainly on account of its being by most nurserymen kept in doors 

 during cold weather, and treated as a green-house plant; whereas it is clearl}^ capable of 

 accommodating itself to this climate, and growing wherever the Arburtus will thrive. 

 The allusions to this plant in the bible are few. Referring to the eflfect of the Gospel, or 

 the reign of Christ on the state of the world and the dispositions of mankind, it is said: 

 " Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the briar shall come up 

 the myrtle tree." 



In the Gospels of Matthew, IMark, and John, the Hyssop is mentioned. It grows on 

 the mountains around the city of Jerusalem; and as it is plentiful in Calvary, it is proba- 

 ble that it was a handful of this herb that was plucki;d, imbued with vinegar, and applied 

 to the parched lips of the dying Saviour. 



The Box tree is another biblical tree, but the sacred allusions to it are slight. In the 

 Augustan era the Roman villas were profusely adorned with this tree clipped into a va- 

 riety of figures. In Greece it appears to have been kept rather in the back-ground. 



The Pine and Fir are also mentioned in the sacred text, but the references to them are 

 not sufficiently clear to warrant any identification. 



I close the biblical list of ligneous plants suited to the climate of Britain with the Rose. 

 Great diversity of opinion exists among the learned in relation to the true meaning of the 

 term hab^tzelsth, in our version of the bible translated Rose. The Seventy interpreters, 

 with Jerome, render it " the flower of the fields." Others think the Asphodel is meant, 

 or some other kindred bulbous-rooted plant, and in support of such supposition, the ren- 

 dering of the term is so far favorable — habab, he loved; and hatzel, a bulb or onion. At 

 any rate, there is not the slightest doubt that the Rose was known and appreciated in bib- 

 lical times, though there is some ground for supposing that the species of our genus (.^o.sa) 

 are not referred to in the passages of Scripture. 



