HORTICULTURE. 



805 



He bade adieu to all the stiff modes of canals, circu- 

 lar basins, and cascades tumbling over marble steps. 

 Dealing in none but the true colours of nature, and 

 seizing upon its most interesting features, a new 

 creation was gradually presented. The living land- 

 scape was chastened or polished, not transformed. 

 The elegant works of Repton, the unrivalled essays 

 of Price on the picturesque, and the valuable publi- 

 tations of Gilpin, Madock, Panty, Sang, and Loudon, 

 with those of many other writers, on landscape and 

 ornamental gardening, have had an extensive influence 

 in promoting correct ideas of natural scenery. 



The improved style of horticulture, every where 

 apparent in Great Britian, attracted the attention of 

 the other nations of Europe, and British gardening 

 became the designation for all that was beautiful in 

 that pleasing art the synonyme of perfection in ru- 

 ral culture. At the period when this new system of 

 laying out grounds was gaining converts, and began 

 to be practically adopted, viscount Girardin, a French 

 military officer of high rank, travelled through Eng- 

 land , and, on his return, he not only improved his 

 seat at Ermenonville in conformity to that style, but 

 published a work of great celebrity on the Composition 

 des Paysages sur le Terrain, ou des Moyens d'embel- 

 iir la Nature pres des Habitations. The French 

 style of laying out gardens had been settled by Le 

 Notre, during the reign of Louis XIV., and continu- 

 ed in repute for upwards of a century ; for it appears 

 to have been in vogue as late as 1770. The court 

 and nation wished to be dazzled by novelty and singu- 

 larity, and his long, clipped alleys, triumphal arches, 

 richly decorated parterres, his fountains and cas- 

 cades,with their grotesque and strange ornaments, his 

 groves full of architecture and gilt trellises, and his 

 profusion of statues, enchanted every class of obser- 

 vers. His principal works were the gardens of Ver- 

 sailles, Meudon, St Cloud, Sceaux, Chantilly, and the 

 terrace of St Germain. Gray, the poet, was struck 

 with their splendour when filled with company, and 

 when the water-works were in full action ; but lord 

 Kaimes says, they would tempt one to believe, that 

 nature was below the notice of a great monarch. Le 

 Notre was succeeded by Dufresny, who, differing 

 considerably in taste from that great artist, determin- 

 ed on inventing a more picturesque style ; but his 

 eilorts were rarely carried into full execution. He, 

 however, constructed, in a manner superior to his 

 predecessor, the gardens of abbe Pajot and those of 

 Moulin and Chemin creux. After the peace of 1762, 

 the English system began to pass into France, and 

 portions of ancient gardens were destroyed, to make 

 way for young plantations a VAnglaise. Laugier 

 was the first author who espoused the English style, 

 and the next in order was Prevot. It was at this 

 time that viscount Girardin commenced his improve- 

 ments at Ermenonville, and the change of the horti- 

 cultural taste in France, may be referred to the last 

 quarter of the eighteenth century. 



The English style has gradually found its way into 

 most civilized countries. Only twenty-five years 

 have elapsed since the London horticultural society 

 was established, and there are now more than fifty 

 similar institutions in Great Britain, which still 

 maintains the first rank in the art ; but France is 

 making great efforts to rival her. A horticultural 

 society was established in Paris in 1826, and has al- 

 ready more than two thousand members, and the 

 number is rapidly increasing. It has been patronis- 

 ed by the court, and most of the nobles and men of 

 distinction in France have eagerly united with the 

 proprietors of estates and practical cultivators to col- 

 lect and disseminate intelligence throughout that 

 flourishing empire. In the various provinces where 

 horticultural societies have not been founded, those 



of agriculture, or of the sciences and arts, have estab- 

 lished departments expressly devoted to that inter- 

 esting pursuit ; and during the year 1827, a practical 

 and theoretical institution was founded at Fromont, by 

 the enlightened and munificent chevalier Soulange 

 Bodin, for educating gardeners, and introducing im- 

 provements in every department of horticulture. 

 The garden contains about 130 acres, and is divided 

 into compartments for every variety of culture. 

 Extensive green-houses, stoves and orangeries have 

 been erected, and all the other appendages furnish- 

 ed, which are requisite for rendering the establish- 

 ment effectual for instruction and experiment. The 

 nursery of the Luxembourg long supplied a great 

 part of Europe with fruit trees. The Jardin des 

 plantes, in Paris, includes compartments which may 

 oe considered as schools for horticulture, planting, 

 agriculture, medical botany and general economy, and 

 is unquestionably the most scientific and best managed 

 establishment in Europe. The flower garden ot 

 Malmaison, the botanical garden of Trianon, and 

 numerous nursery, herb, medicinal, experimental and 

 botanical gardens, in various parts of the kingdom, 

 are pre-eminent for the variety, number, and excel- 

 lence of their products. 



Holland has been distinguished, since the period 

 of the crusades, for her flower gardens, culinary 

 vegetables, and plantations of fruit trees. The north 

 of Europe and the United States of America are still 

 dependent upon her florists for the most splendid 

 varieties of bulbous- rooted plants; and her celebrated 

 nurseries, which have long replenished those of 

 Europe, have been recently fortunate in the acquisi- 

 tion of Van Mons and Duquesne. Some of the finest 

 fruits of our gardens were produced by these indefa- 

 tigable experimentalists, and, with the excellent 

 varieties created by Knight, promise to replace those 

 which have either become extinct, or are so deterio- 

 rated in quality, as to discourage their cultivation. 

 From St Petersburg to the shores of the Mediterra- 

 nean, horticulture has made a rapid progress, and 

 each nation is emulous to perfect its culture, in 

 accordance with the most improved principles of 

 science, art, and taste. In America a like spirit has 

 been more recently developed. Horticultural socie- 

 ties have been instituted in New York, Philadelphia, 

 Boston, Albany, Geneva, and South Carolina, and a 

 zealous disposition evinced to compete with the 

 nations of Europe. It is now the duty of American 

 cultivators, to reciprocate the benefits which they 

 have so long received from their transatlantic breth- 

 ren, and to develope the resources of a country, 

 which offers such an extensive range of research to 

 the naturalist. Many of the most useful and magni- 

 ficent acquisitions of the groves, fields, gardens, and 

 conservatories of Europe are natives of the western 

 hemisphere. The indigenous forest trees, ornamen- 

 tal shrubs, flowers, fruits, and edible vegetables of 

 North America, are remarkable for their variety, 

 size, splendour, or value. Extending from the pole to 

 the tropics, and from the Atlantic to the Pacific, 

 North America embraces every clime, and every 

 variety of soil, teeming with innumerable specimens 

 of the vegetable kiiigdom. 



The natural divisions of horticulture are the 

 esculent or kitchen garden, seminary, nursery, fruit 

 trees, and vines, flower garden, green-houses, arlore- 

 t/uit of ornamental trees, and shrubs, the botanical 

 and medical garden, and landscape or picturesque 

 gardening. Each of these departments requires to 

 be separately studied before it can be managed so as 

 to combine utility and comfort with ornament and 

 recreation. To accomplish this on a large scale- 

 artists, scientific professors, and intelligent and ex 

 perienced practical superintendents, are employed. 



