Evolution of Ibortfculture 



That horticulture preceded agriculture 

 may be inferred from the history of the 

 human race. The Scriptures say : " The 

 Lord God planted a garden eastward in 

 Eden, and there he put the man that he 

 had formed. . . . And the Lord God 

 took the man and put him into the garden 

 to dress it and to keep it." Whatever 

 construction may be put upon the story 

 as presented to us in Genesis, it is reason- 

 able to conclude that our first parents 

 were placed in Paradise to practise horti- 

 culture. This was their occupation, and 

 continued to be that of their immediate 

 descendants, and undoubtedly of all East- 

 ern nations for an indefinite period. The 

 attention of man was at first specially di- 

 rected to the cultivation of fruits ; they 

 were mostly fruit eaters, and as the Ori- 

 ental nations long remained stationary, 

 and the value of property and the conse- 

 quent necessity of enclosing their culti- 

 vated lands thus gradually became 

 appreciated, gardens were formed, in 

 which were planted fruit trees and par- 

 6 



