INTRODUCTION. 17 



Culinary, and afterwards medicinal herbs, were objects in 

 request by every head of a family ; and it became conven- 

 ient to have them within reach, without searching for them 

 in woods, in meadows, or on mountains, as they might be 

 wanted. Separate inclosures for rearing herbs were soon 

 found expedient. Fruits were in the same predicament ; 

 and those most in use ; or the cultivation of which required 

 particular attention, must early have entered into and ex- 

 tended the domestic inclosure. Such may be deemed the 

 leading heads of a conjectural history of the art ; and, in- 

 deed, if we would ascend into remote antiquity, we can 

 have recourse only to conjecture ; for although, in tbe 

 Sacred Writings, and in the earliest profane authors, allu- 

 sions to gardens occur, little is told us either of their pro- 

 ductions or their culture. At the close of the Roman com- 

 monwealth, the catalogue of fruits had become considerable, 

 the principles of grafting and pruning were understood and 

 practiced, and shortly afterwards, even artificial heat seems 

 to have been partially employed. With the decline of the 

 empire, horticulture seems also to have declined, or to have 

 become stationary ; but, at the revival of learning, it arose 

 from the slumber of the Dark Ages, encumbered, it is true, 

 by the dreams of the alchymist, the restrictions of unlucky 

 days, and the imaginary effects of lunar influence. From 

 these fetters it was ere long emancipated by the diffusion 

 of knowledge, and it has hitherto kept pace with the gene- 

 ral improvement of society. Modified by climate and 

 other circumstances in different countries, its advancement 

 has been various ; but nowhere has it made greater pro- 

 gress than amongst ourselves. Introduced into England 

 at an early period, gardening became conspicuous in the 

 reign of Henry VIII, and his immediate successors, and 

 met with considerable attention during the reigns of the 



