8 



pcrience, the instructions of matured theory, and the 

 advantages of various and multiplied examples, horti- 

 culture becomes the successful rival of her younger, 

 yet more favored sister, and finally usurps her entire 

 domain ; for, " that field is best cultivated, which as- 

 sumes the appearance of a wide-extended garden." 

 It was this learned and skillful tillage, which, in an- 

 cient times, maintained the dense population, that 

 crowded the classic shores of the Mediterranean, the 

 fertile islands of Crete, Cyprus, and Rhodes, the em- 

 eralds which spangle the ^Egean sea, and realized in 

 Sicily the Hesperides of fabulous poetry ; — and which, 

 in our age, is so conspicuous in China, Holland, por- 

 tions of France, Germany, Italy, and Switzerland, and 

 has rendered the rural economy of England the model 

 of all countries. 



When nations first emerge from a state of barbar- 

 ism, the demands for food and clothing offer the most 

 powerful inducements for agricultural industry, and 

 the coarsest products satisfy the general consump- 

 tion ; but as manufactures and commerce begin to 

 divide the labors of an increasing and more intelli- 

 gent population, and the accumulated wealth of suc- 

 cessful enterprise creates a more refined taste, and 

 furnishes the means of gratification, the industrious 

 cultivator of the soil is encouraged to increase the 

 variety, quantity, delicacy and value of his legumes, 

 esculent vegetables, fruits and flowers, until his rude 

 fields are converted into gardens. It is then that 

 horticulture assumes a station, which commands, not 

 only individual interest, but governmental considera- 

 tion, as one of the most important branches of 



