62 Botanic Gardens. 



communications have been opened between all parts 

 of the world, thanks to the majestic sway of Eome ? 

 civilization and the arts of life have made rapid pro- 

 gress, owing to the interchange of commodities, and 

 the common enjoyment by all of the blessings of 

 peace ; whilst at the same time a multitude of objects 

 which formerly lay concealed are now revealed for 

 our indiscriminate use ? " In our day, in the ma- 

 nagement of Botanic Gardens, are men who regularly 

 correspond with other learned men at the head of 

 great gardens elsewhere. The gardens made by Mat- 

 thaeus Sylvaticus, at Solerno, in the fourteenth cen- 

 tury, were, perhaps, more of the modern Botanic 

 Garden than any which had before been known. 

 About the year 1333, the republic of Venice esta- 

 blished a public medical garden, and had paintings 

 made, some of which still exist, of many of its plants. 

 I found there a good collection of soft-wooded as 

 well as other plants, and I purchased a few of the 

 rarer Yuccas, &c., at reasonable prices. Naples, 

 Turin, Bologna, Ferrara, Padua, Pisa, Pavia, Flo- 

 rence, Home, and in France, Montpellier, and other 

 cities followed, the example of Venice ; and all of 

 them, many of which I have seen, are full of interest 

 to the inquiring and observant visitor. We need not 

 discuss special distinctions between what are called 

 Botanic and other gardens. This, however, seems 

 plain, that in the present circumstances of horticul- 

 ture, such places are specially favoured with oppor- 

 tunities of giving pleasure and information to 



