CONTINENTAL LANDSCAPE GARDENING. 35 



development of the art. The lover of gardening might dwell for 

 hours on the numerous details of the notable examples to be seen 

 in the beautiful villas and chateaux of France and Italy, which are 

 truly continental. I can, however, within the limited space at 

 my disposal but cite the best examples and draw a few general 

 conclusions from those. 



As above stated, the clearest conception is to be obtained by 

 tracing carefully its growth from the beginning in ancient Italy. 

 One would do well to go back even farther than this into the gardens 

 of Egypt, Persia, and Greece and study the gradual development 

 up to the days where we begin. Suffice to say, it is from these 

 countries that the art gained its initial inspiration. I would there- 

 fore first have you study with me the great masterpieces remaining 

 to us from the early Christian era; such as have been partially 

 spared to the present generation in varying degrees of preservation. 

 Beginning with the celebrated gardens of Pompeii, once obscurely 

 buried beneath the ashes of Vesuvius in the year 79 A. D., but long 

 since brought to light through the efforts of the Italian Government, 

 and restored with all due care, one finds a typical garden of ancient 

 Italy. These gardens, filled with their miniature statuary and 

 basins, and enclosed by colonnades or porticoes, all being beauti- 

 fully carved in Italian marble, served as the outdoor homes of the 

 aristocracy of that small city in those ancient days. Here in these 

 small enclosed gardens, amply well supplied with vines and 

 flowers, the wealthy families of Pompeii bathed in the sunshine 

 and feasted upon the mural paintings surrounding the small rectan- 

 gular enclosure. All of these gardens were on a miniature plan yet 

 unquestionably harmonious in every detail. They represented 

 the first real attempt at gardening which was undertaken by the 

 wealthy class. 



They are but one type however of the ancient gardens. There 

 are left to us today, two other types widely differing in their archi- 

 tectural detail and their adaptation of design to the specific needs of 

 their creators. These are represented in the picturesque ruins of 

 the Villa Tiberus situated on the summit of the little Island of 

 Capri, far out in the beautiful bay of Naples; and in the magnifi- 

 cent ruins of the wonderful Villa of Hadrian situated far across the 

 great expanse of the Roman Campagna, among the Tivoli hills. 



