CHAPTER X 

 GARDENS PUBLIC AND BOTANICAL 



' "W" T is to the great awakening of the Middle Ages, with 

 its impetus to all learning, including botany, the 

 JL revival of medicinal lore, and the botanical collec- 

 tions fostered by the new learning, rather than to any 

 inherent love of the cultivation of the beautiful, that we 

 may trace back the real initiation of our modern pro- 

 ficiency in the art of gardening." 



This is the opinion given by K. L. Davidson, in his 

 comprehensive little book, "Our Gardens," a popular 

 review of English gardens and gardening, and he goes 

 on to show how the small plots planted for the use of 

 scholars and doctors with herbs and simples, with no 

 thought whatever of flowers for their own sake, gradu- 

 ally developed into places as lovely as they are useful, 

 collecting into themselves the trees and plants and 

 shrubs of the world, whether of economic or esthetic 

 value, and experimenting along many lines of use and 

 beauty. 



The initial efforts of man are always concerned with 

 practical results. Beauty is an afterthought, though it 



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