INTRODUCTION. 11 



of the first arts which succeeded to that of buiiding 

 houses, and naturally attended property and individual 

 possession. Culinary, and afterwards medicinal herbs, 

 were objects in request by every head of a^family; and 

 it became convenient to have them within reach, with- 

 out searching for them in woods, in meadows, or on 

 mountains, as they might be wanted. Separate in- 

 closures for rearing herbs were soon found expedient. 

 Fruits were in the same predicament; and those most 

 in use, or the cultivation of which required particular 

 attention, must early have entered into and extended 

 the domestic inclosure. Such maybe deemed the lead- 

 ing heads of a conjectural history of the art; and, in- 

 deed, if we would ascend into remote antiquity, we can 

 have recourse only to conjecture ; for although, in the 

 Sacred Writings, and in the earliest profane authors, 

 allusions to gardens occur, little is told us either of their 

 productions or their culture. At the close of the Roman 

 commonwealth, the catalogue of fruits had become con- 

 siderable, the principles of grafting and pruning were 

 understood and practiced, and shortly afterwards, even 

 artificial heat seems to have been partially employed. 

 With the decline of the empire, horticulture .seems also 

 to have declined, or to have become stationary; but, at 

 the revival of learning, it arose from the slumber of 

 the Dark Ages, encumbered, it is true, by the dreams 

 of the alchymist, the restrictions of unlucky days, and 

 the imaginary efi'ects of lunar influence. From these 

 fetters it was ere long emancipated by the diffusion of 

 knowledge, and it has hitherto kept pace with the gene- 

 ral improvement of society. Modified by climate and 

 other circumstances in different countries, its advance- 

 ment has been various ; but nowhere has it made 



