EARLY HISTORY n 



where then, and later, the wealthy merchant princes 

 liberally encouraged almost all branches of horticulture. 

 Thus encouraged the florists entered heartily into the 

 business of supplying their patrons, and, aided by a 

 suitable climate and the various inventions born of 

 necessity, they made Holland famous throughout the 

 world for its commercial horticulture. So careful, how- 

 ever, were the Dutch of every inch of land, much of it 

 reclaimed, that they laid out their gardens with mathe- 

 matical precision and consequent primness, carrying this 

 principle into the very trees and plants themselves. 



It was in the early part of the fourteenth century that 

 Pierre de Crescent, of Bologna, wrote his work on Agri- 

 culture, wherein he describes the kinds of pleasure 

 gardens suitable for various classes of the community, 

 and a suggestion of formality of design and the use of 

 Topiary is made in his observation that a royal garden 

 should contain a menagerie, and also an aviary placed 

 among thickets, arbors and vines. 



