^68 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



March 13, 1S29. 



jSln IniUatory Discourse, delivered at Geiieva, '27th 

 JVovembtr, 1828, before an assembly, from which, 

 on that day, was formed the Domestic HorticuUvral 

 Society of the western parts of the stale of Xew 

 York. By Mtroi» Holley, Esq. 



(Continued from page 260.J 

 The 7th hook of Homer's OJysscy contains a 



beautiful description of tlic garden of the good 



nnd hospitable king Alcinous, of wljich the follow- 



iug is Pope's translation : 



" Close to Ihe gale a spacious garden lies, 

 From siorms dercnried and inclement skies. 

 Four acres was lii' allotted space of ground, 

 Fenced "'ilh a green enclosure all around. 

 Tall thriving trees confessed the fruitiul mould j 

 The redd'ning apple ripens here lo gold. 

 Here the blue fig with Insciousjuicc o'erflows, 

 With deeper red the (ull pomegranate glows. 

 The branch here bends beneath the weighty pear, 

 And verdant olives flourish round the year. 

 The balmy spirit oi the western gale 

 Eternal !n"eathes on fruit untaught to fail ; 

 Each dropping pear, a following pear supplies} 

 On apples, apples, figs on figs arise : 

 The sTme mild season gives the blooms to blow. 

 The buds to harden, and the fruits to giow. 



" Here order'tl vines, in equal ranks ap[)car. 

 With all th' united labors of the year : 

 Some to unload the lertile branches run ; 

 Some dry Ihe black'ning clusters in the sun; 

 Others lo tread the liquid .harvest join } 

 The groaning presses foam with floods of wine. 

 Here are the \ine5 in early flower descried. 

 Here grapes discolored on the sunny jide, 

 And there in auiuinn's richest purple dvcd. 

 Beds of all various herbs, forever green. 

 In beauteous order terminate the scene. 

 Two plenteous fountains the whole prospect crowned j 

 This through the garden leads its streams around, 

 Visits each plant and waters all the ground." 



But the hanging gardens of Baliylon, if they 

 were not more iruitful than that of Aicinous, were 

 vastly more expensive and more pictiire.stiue. — 

 And what makes them more interesting i.s tlie 

 spirit of cotirtesy in wliich they were constructed. 

 Nebuchadnezzar made diein to gratify the taste of 

 his wife, who being by hirth a M.mIc, and acctis- 

 totncd to the view of mnuittaitious regions, did not 

 perfectly enjoy the rural prospects of the level 

 country itrotitid Iter htishaiitl's ctipital. Those 

 gardens were four hundred feet sqtiarc, and con- 

 sisted of teifaces raised one above another to the 

 height of three hundred and fifty leet. Tlies'; 

 terraces were ascended by steps ten feet wide, 

 and supj)orted by massy arches upon arches of 

 solid masonry, th.? whole being sitrroundcd anil 

 strengthened by a wall twenty-two feet thick. — 

 The floor of eacli terrace was niaile itnpervious to 

 water, and covered with a suflicient depth of soil 

 to support the largest tree.^, and the innumerable 

 shrubs and plants with which it was embellished. 

 And upon the upper terrace was a reservoir, v/hich 

 was filled with water from the river by an ingen- 

 ious engine, of such dimensions as to supply the 

 tii,oisture required by all the terraces. 



Among the Greeks, the city of Athens, more il- 

 lustrious thitn any other city upon which the sun 

 has ever shone, lor the immortal models of art 

 and genitis which she has ftirnisheil the human 



race, was surroundod by gardens and groves 



Without hor walls, btit near them, were those of 

 the Lycetun, of the Cynosargcs, of the Acadotriy, 

 of Epicurus, ani'l of Plato. In the tranquil and 

 elegant retirement of these scenes, the itiost virtu- 



ous and venerable of the heathen sages succes- 

 sively received, and imparted, all the lights of an- 

 cient philosophy. 



The Romans were peculiarly fond of gardens. 

 In tlieii cities the common pcoitle used to have 

 representations of them in their windows. And 

 several of their noble families derived their names 

 froin their cultivation of certain kinds of garden 

 vegetables ; as the Fabii, Lentuli, and Lactucini. 

 So attached to gardens were the lowest pojndace 

 of Rome, that in the inimitably artful speech of 

 Antony over the body of Ca;sar, as presented to us 

 by Shakspeare, the last degree of indignation is 

 excited in their minds against his murderers, by 

 the generous disposition wliich they were told 

 Ca?sar had made of his gardens in his will. An- 

 tony assures them, " Moreover he hath left you all 

 his walks, his private arbors, and new planted or- 

 chards, on this side Tiber: — he hath left thetn to 

 you, and to your heirs forever, common pleasures, 

 to walk abroail and recreate yourselves." Uuon 

 this they could no longer be restrained, but re- 

 solved, at once, to burn the traitors' hotises. 



The most ancient of the Roman gart'ens refer- 

 red to in history, was that of Tarquin the Proud, 

 in which that monster is said to have intimated 

 his intention to destroy the people of Gabii, by 

 striking off the heads of the flowers: frotn which 

 I think it reasonable to infer, that he did uot make 

 the garden. But the most magnificent of the Ro- 

 man gaiflens were those of Lticulltis, which he 

 made when the power of that empire was great- 

 est, and her wealth and luxury the most conspic- 

 uous. In these gardens artificial elevations of 

 earth were made to a surprising heigiit ; e.xi)en- 

 sive buildings were projecteil into the sea, anil 

 large lakes were exca\ated upon land. The enor- 

 mous cost of these works LuculUis was able lo de- 

 fray by the s|)oils of Asitt, in which he had been a 

 most successful comman.lcr. Plutarch represents 

 him as having possessed en:inent military and civii 

 merits, and as having a jirofoiind veneration for 

 Grecian phiio.sophy, in whicli he was deeply pro- 

 ficient ; though that distinguished biographer re- 

 garded, as frivolous amtiseraents, his sumptuous 

 villas, his walks, his paintings, his sl.itues, and his 

 other works of art. Lucullus wae a literary, ac- 

 complisiied, and opulent epicure, and, at.the same 

 time, a sincere patriot. For wiiile, on the one 

 hand, he delighted in all the oflerings of the 

 tiiuses, and enjoyed them, in the highest degree, 

 with Cicero and many of their other favorites, 

 whom he was accustottied to entertain at his Tus- 

 culan villa, with all the dainties of Rotnan life ; on 

 the other hand he was the most cordial and eiTi- 

 cient friend of Cato, in the senate-house, in all his 

 incasuros to preserve the comtnnnwealth against 

 the ambitious designs of Pom[)ey ri;u Caesar. 



In tlie latter days of Rome, the elegant and jiol- 

 ished Pliny was devoted to his gardens ; and it is 

 probable that his Ttiscan villa exhibited the most 

 tasteftil anil beautiful, if not the mo.st costly gar- 

 den of all antiquity. Situated in the midst of a 

 vast natural amphitheatre,at th'; base of the Appe- 

 nine mountains, and surrounded with hills covered 

 with lofty and venerable woods, with the river 

 Tiber and all its navigation running through the 

 middle of the prospect, it had every external 

 beauty of scenery which art and nature could be- 

 stow. And within its fences it was adorned with 

 all the trees, and shrubs, and flowers, and herbs, 

 and walks, and hedges, and porticos, aud summer 

 houses, and alcoves, and seats, and basins, and ar- 



tificial fountains, that were then acceptable to the 

 most cultivated love of rural refinement. 



The taste for gardens, in modern times, has not 

 been less universttl, nor less ojierative. Tliey are 

 frequently mentioned in the history of the earliest 

 monkish establishinents, afid religious houses 

 (hiring the dark ages. Italy and France have 

 been long conspicuous for their general and osten- 

 tatious Horticulture. They are more celebrated 

 for their cultivation of delicious fruits, for their or- ij 

 namental and shady walks, and their various and 

 refreshing artificial fountains of water, than for 

 the excellence of their culinary vegetables. 



Holland and Flanders were very earlv distin- 

 guished, as they still are, for their love of plants 

 and flowers, in which they have probably excelled 

 all the other people of Europe. Previous to the 

 si.xtcenth century exotics were niore cultivated 

 there than any where else, and their gardens con- 

 taitied a great variety of rare jilants. At that 

 early day they carried on considerable commerce 

 in these articles. They imported jilants from the 

 Levant and both the Indies, and exported them to 

 England, France, and Germany. Before the time 

 of Henry the eighth, the London market was sup- 

 plied with culinary herbs and roots from Holland. 

 And during many reigns tifterwards the English 

 kings cbtained their gardeners from that country. 



The soil of Great Britain w.is considered itnfit 

 for the finest productions of Horticulture till with- 

 in the last century. It was always unrivalled for 

 the freshness and bcattty of its verdure. liut it 

 has been known only within the three or four last 

 generations to have paid great attention to the or- 

 natnental cultivation of its pleasure grounds, or 

 the profitable produce of its kitchen and fruit gar- 

 dens. Since the general i.'itroduction of forcing 

 houses, at the beginning of the eighteenth century, 

 her noblemen, and other men of taste and opu- 

 lence, have been Vvonderfully sticcessful in the 

 finest arts of cultivation. Now there is said to be 

 more certainty of finding pine apples, of domes'ic 

 growth, in the London market, every day in the 

 year, than there is either in Jainaica or Calcutta. 



The total nnmlter of vegetable species, i;ot in- 

 digettous, in Engl.and, introduced ]u-evions to the 

 accession of George the 4th, is said to hitve been 

 11,970 ; of v.hich the first 47 were brought in be- ' 

 fore and during the reign of Henry Sth ; 532 dur- 

 ing that of Elizabeth ; 578 during the reign of 

 the two Charleses, and Cromwell ; 44 in that of 

 James 2d ; 298 in that of William and Mary ; 230 

 in that of Anne ; 182 in tluit of George 1st ; 1770 

 in that of George 2d ; and 6756 in that of George 

 the 3d. 



The civilized nations of the earth are now vie- 

 ing with each other in Horticultural establish- 

 ments. And since the discoveries of Linneu.«, a 

 new and most valuable object has been extensive- 

 ly connected with many of them, which has given 

 (hern additional claims to inteiligent favor: I al- 

 lude to the proiuotion of Botanic science. Europe 

 has numerous public and jiriv.ate gardens, in which 

 the splendors of Horiii-tihure are most happily 

 combined with this enchanting pursuit. 



In our own country there have been several at- 

 tempts, by individuals, and by as.sociations, to ef' 

 feet the same agreeable combination. These at- 

 tempts are exceedingly laudable, .and, if duly en- 

 couraged, will insure extensive and lasting bene- 

 fits. They are like to lie essentially aided by the 

 United States' government. For, during the last 

 year, we were told by one of its public functiona- 



