6 



Jews which would have been uaintelligible to them, if they 

 were not aware of the practice of raising the Vine from seed. 

 That they were aware of the effects of one flower being im- 

 piet^nated by the pollen of another appears in the following 

 verse. ** Thou shalt not sow thy Vineyard with divers seeds, 

 lest the fruit of thy seed which thou hast sown, and the fruit 

 of thy Vineyard be defiled."* We may likewise conclude 

 that they were aware, that Plants grow chiefly during the 

 night, from the distinction which Moses made between the 

 " fruits brought forth by the Sun," and those " put forth (or, 

 as it may be translated, thrust forth) by the Moon."t 



This early period was not without its literature relative to 

 plants, Solomon wrote of them, " from the lofty Cedars of 

 Lebanon, down to the humble Hyssop of the Wall."t It is to 

 a still earlier period that many historians refer Zoroaster, even 

 identifying him with Ham, Chuz, or Mizraim of the Holy 

 writings ; others place him at a much later period ; a third 

 set consider that there were several of the same name. One 

 of these two last opinions is probably correct, since Pliny re- 

 lates that Zoroaster left a Treatise upon Gardening ; a work 

 scarcely credible as existing in so early an age of the World. I| 



About a Century posterior to Solomon flourished Homer. 

 If we are to judge of the state of Gardening among the 

 Greeks at that period, from his writings, we may decide that 

 their Gardens were not very extensive. As with the brilliant 

 fancy of a Poet he has given to the Garden of Alcinous an 

 eternal Summer, and to his Palace Silver Pillars, we may rea- 

 sonably conclude with Walpole, that the size of the Garden 

 was proportionably exaggerated. This he states as being 

 four Acres, an enclosure therefore though comprehending the 

 Orchard and Kitchen Garden which the Grecians probably 

 never witnessed. The Apple, Fig, Pomegranate, Pear, Olives 



♦ Dent, xxii.9. f Deut. xxxiii. 14. J 1 Kings iv. 22. 

 H Plln. h. vii. c. 10. b. XXX. c. 1. 



