PRACTICAL CULTURE OF PLANTS. 



667 



It Is said tliat the lower orders of people in 

 some parts of Cliina, draw a chief part of their 

 nourishment from the produce of their gardens, 

 and that they are in possession of some garden 

 esculents which are peculiar to themselves. We 

 are indehted to China for several valuable addi- 

 tions to our flower-gardens, and among the rest 

 for various species of tlie Camellia, Poeonia, and 

 Hose ; and it is reasonable to suppose that the 

 same care would have been taken for the trans- 

 mission of seeds of new descriptions of esculents 

 had any such presented themselves. 



In an empire comprehending so great a variety 

 of climate, the natural productions must doubt- 

 less be extremely varied, and the Chinese are 

 said to bo in the enjoyment of most of the fi-uits 

 and vegetables that are reared throughout Europe. 

 There is little that is worthy of remark in w hat 

 has been stated with regard to the methods cm- 

 ployed for the cultivation of their vegetable gar- 

 dens. Recent travellers have endeavoured to 

 tlirow an air of discredit upon the relations of 

 tlie learned men whose accounts have been al- 

 ready noticed. It is indeed, not impossible that 

 tliese reverend fathers may have endeavoured 

 to draw a little upon the credulity of their read- 

 ers ; but, on the other hand, it must be consi- 

 liered, that while our own intelligent country- 

 men who have been admitted within the borders 

 of the celestial empire have had their o]iportuni- 

 ties for observation limited to the time em- 

 ployed in the performance of a raj)id journey, 

 during which they were always watched by a 

 government escort, their precursors remained for 

 a considerable time in the country, and could 

 consequently examine things at their leisure and 

 in comparative freedom. 



From the earliest times the Persians have been 

 great gardenei-s; but historians and travellers 

 liave only thought deserving of their notice gar- 

 dens which have been constructed for the plea- 

 sure of monarchs, or as proofs of their wealth 

 and power. 



That the Greeks also took pleasure in horti- 

 cultural pursuits we have the direct testimony 

 of Theophrastus and Aristophanes. Flowers were 

 idways in great request among them. At con- 

 vivial meetings, at public festivals, and in reli- 

 gious ceremonies, the presence of these was always 

 required. To so great an extent was this use of 

 flowers carried, that artists were established in 

 Athens, whose sole occupation it was to compose 

 wreaths and crowns with flowers of difl^erent spe- 

 cies, each of which was understood to convey some 

 particular mythological idea. 



The Romans, amid all their conquests, never 

 forgot to forward the useful arts of life, but car- 

 ried with them into other countries such as they 

 already possessed, while tliey showed themselves 

 to be willing learners of others which they found 

 establislied and which were new to themselves. . 



It is fortunate for the interests of liumanity that 

 the benefits \\hich they thus became the means 

 of disseminating, were in their nature such as 

 would soften and repair the miseries occasioned 

 by the sword ; and that these benefits have re- 

 mained to bless the countries which their armies 

 overran. 



It may be supposed, that an art which waa 

 capable of ministering so greatly to their per- 

 sonal gratification as that of vegetable gardening, 

 would not be neglected by the Romans. Colu- 

 mella has given a very considerable list of culi- 

 nary plants which they possessed, and some of 

 these must have been both excellent and plentiful, 

 since he speaks of them as being esteemed both 

 by slaves and kings. 



The more luxurious among the Romans were 

 accustomed to force vegetables, ani^ the emperor 

 Tiberius is said to have been so fond of cucum- 

 bers, that he secured by that means a supply for 

 his table throughout the year. 



The kitchen-gardens of the modern Italians 

 contain nearly every vegetable that we possess ; 

 but their methods of cultivation are not such as 

 to afford them in that degree of perfection in 

 which we are accustomed to enjoy them, and to 

 which the climate would seem qualified to bring 

 them. The gardens of the peasants throughout 

 the Italian states are but scantily supplied, gourds 

 and Indian corn comprising nearly all which they 

 are made to contain. It is only in the gardens 

 attached to religious houses that horticulture is 

 pursued with any skill. In the labours of these 

 the friars themselves are accustomed to assist, 

 while in other situations in that country the 

 office of a gardener is commonly filled by one 

 who has had little or no instruction to fit him 

 for the employment. 



Gardens are found universally throughout the 

 Netherlands, so that, to use the words of Sir W. 

 Temple, " gardening has been the common fa- 

 vourite of public and private men ; — a pleasure 

 of the greatest, and a care of the meanest, and 

 indeed an employment and a possession for which 

 no man there is too high nor too low." There 

 is not a cottage to be seen which has not a gar- 

 den attached to it ; and although this is some- 

 times exceedingly small, the high degree of cul- 

 ture which is bestowed upon it renders the spot 

 available for the comfort of the cottager's family. 

 Towards this desirable object every particle of 

 matter capable of ameliorating the soil is care- 

 fully collected and applied. From these circum- 

 stances, it may be readily supposed that the 

 Dutch are possessed of every firuit and escu- 

 lent vegetable that their climate is capable of 

 maturing. 



In France, although gardens are not nearly so 

 universal as in Holland, they are still very gene- 

 rally met with, their characteristic quality being 

 t hat of neatness. This statement refers, however, 



