THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



Fig. 1639. — Hanging Gardens of Babylon 

 (Attempt at reconstruction.) 



of brick formed the main support of the 

 building. Probably some use was made 

 of piers and columns too. Flights of 

 stairs led to the summit of the building. 

 Each flat contained stately apartments 

 for all sorts of purposes. The walls of 

 these were perhaps adorned with color 

 glories — battle and hunting scenes glow- 

 ing in yellow, red, brown, and blue. A 

 great mass of earth covered the top of 

 the terraces. When this soil was laid 

 even and smooth it was planted with 

 trees, shrubs and flowers, 



*' And then were gardens bright with sinuous 



rills, 

 Where blossomed many an incense-bearing tree, 

 And forests ancient as the hills " 



Not inappropriate as at first sight, would 

 seem is the comparison of this plantation, 

 in its later days at least, to a primeval 



forest. Quintus Curtius asserts 

 that some of the trees grew to 

 be more than twelve feet in di- 

 ameter. In the days of Amy- 

 itis the trees must have been 

 smaller, but the ground was 

 probably more profusely deck- 

 ed with flowers. Aromatic 

 plants most likely grew there, 

 and if the native flora of the 

 country was not denied a 

 place among the vegetable 

 novelties from abroad, the 

 date palm with its crown of 

 splendid leaves and charming 

 amber clusters of fruit hanging 

 down several feet in length, 

 adorned the slopes. The 

 pomegranate with its scarlet 

 flowers, the graceful acacia, 

 the mournful willow, the long 

 feathery rods of the tamarisk, 

 the cone-like cypress, the 

 orange and the apple tree, very 

 likely brightened its groves. 

 In the burning climate of the 

 country, the shade and cool- 

 ness of the place was delicious. The 

 water for the gardens was supplied 

 from a canal from the Euphrates, 

 and was raised by a screw hidden 

 away in a room within the structure. 

 Mr. Rassam a few years ago found, 

 at the mound Babel, lour "exquisitely 

 built granite wells," still some 140 feet 

 high, which he concludes were the pipes 

 used in irrigating the Hanging gardens. 

 Huge rocks were elevated to the gardens 

 to give a mountain like appearance. 



Passing on to Roman times we find 

 that this iron race delighted in their 

 gardens, to show their mastery over 

 nature by a display of engineering skill. 

 Lucullus suspended hills upon vast tun- 

 nels and brought in the sea for moats and 



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