206 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES. 



visible of late years, during which time many additions 

 have been made to their kitchen-gardens by different 

 travellers. 



Potatoes are now cultivated to some extent in 

 Russia, but they are of recent introduction, and it 

 was for some time difficult to induce the peasantry 

 either to cultivate or to eat them, for the simple reason 

 that they came recommended by their lords, who 

 were not unnaturally perhaps suspected of some selfish 

 or sinister motive in that recommendation. Horti- 

 culture has attained to a high degree of perfection in 

 Russia under the auspices of its princes and nobles, 

 and it is a curious fact that more pine-apples are grown 

 in the immediate vicinity of St Petersburgh than in all 

 the other countries of continental Europe. 



In Poland, gardening was practised earlier than in 

 Russia, considerable progress having been made in the 

 art at the end of the seventeenth century during the 

 reign of Stanislaus Augustus. There is a very re- 

 markable garden at Warsaw, known by the name of 

 Lazenki. This was formed, and the palace to which 

 it was attached was built, by the last king of Poland. 

 Among other curious and some very magnificent ob- 

 jects in these gardens, are numerous pedestals ranged 

 in various situations, and upon these, instead of 

 sculptured statues, living human figures of both sexes 

 were placed on festal occasions. These persons were 

 dressed in classical costume and were taught to assume 

 and maintain certain attitudes in keeping with the cha- 

 racters they were intended to represent. 



It is to Spain that the rest of Europe is indebted for 

 the introduction of many plants from Mexico, Chili, 

 and Peru. Seeds were brought from these regions, in 

 the reign of Ferdinand the Sixth, for the royal garden 

 of Madrid, whence their produce has been distributed. 

 Spain is very rich in cultivated fruits, so that some 

 species are made to form articles of external commerce; 



