204 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES. 



sessed, and some of these must have been both excel- 

 lent and plentiful, since he speaks of them as being 

 esteemed both by slaves and kings 



The more luxurious among the Romans were ac- 

 customed to force vegetables, and the Emperor Tibe- 

 rius is said to have been so fond of cucumbers that he 

 secured by that means a supply for his table through- 

 out the year. 



The kitchen-gardens of the modern Italians con- 

 tain nearly every vegetable that we possess ; but 

 their methods of cultivation are not such as to afford 

 them in that degree of perfection in which we are 

 accustomed to enjoy them, and to which the climate 

 would seem qualified to bring them. The gardens 

 of the peasants throughout the Italian states are 

 but very scantily supplied, gourds and Indian corn 

 comprising nearly all which they are made to con- 

 tain. It is only in the gardens attached to religious 

 houses that horticulture is pursued with any skill. 

 In the labours of these the friars themselves are ac- 

 customed to assist, while in other situations in that 

 country the office of a gardener is commonly filled by 

 one who has had little or no instruction to fit him for 

 the employment. 



Gardens are found universally throughout the 

 Netherlands, so that, to use the words of Sir W. 

 Temple, ( gardening has been the common favourite 

 of public and private men ; a pleasure of the great- 

 est, and a care of the meanest, and indeed an em- 

 ployment and a possession for which no man there is 

 too high nor too low.' There is not a cottage to be 

 seen which has not a garden attached to it ; and although 

 this is sometimes exceedingly small, the high degree 

 of culture which is bestowed upon it renders the spot 

 available for the comfort of the cottager's family. 

 Towards this desirable object every particle of matter 

 capable of ameliorating the soil is carefully collected 



