668 



HISTORY OK THK VEGKTABI.K KINliDOM. 



more cojrectly to the noitliern than to the south- 

 ern division of tlie kingdom, wliere tlie cottagers' 

 gardens resemble much tliose of the Italian pea- 

 sants, as well in their careless mode of culture as 

 in the paucity of their contents. Nothing can 

 be objected against the system pursued by the 

 market gardeners who supply the French metro- 

 polis, and by wliose skill and industry many 

 vegetables are brought to a very luxuriant 

 growth. 



In the north of Europe gardening is in general 

 a favourite pursuit, and the cottages of the pea- 

 sants are for the most part provided with a spot 

 of ground sufficient in extent to answer the 

 demands of their inmates. This is not so much 

 the case, however, in the Pi-ussian dominions. 

 Cabbages and potatoes form the greater part of 

 the produce^here obtained by the cottagers. 

 The gardens of the higher classes are very dif- 

 ferently managed, so as to produce vegetables in 

 great variety and abundance. 



The art of gardening in Russia, in common 

 with many other useful pursuits, owes its origin 

 to Peter the Great. Previous to the reign of 

 this monarch, there was scarcely such a thing 

 known throughout the empire as a garden, and 

 the only culinary vegetables grown in the coun- 

 try were a few species of stunted kale. Even 

 now the use of gardens in that country is con- 

 fined to the great and wealthy of the land, and 

 their choice of culinary vegetables is but small. 

 A considerable improvement in this respect is, 

 however, visible of late years, during which time 

 many additions have been made to their kitchen- 

 gardens by different travellere. 



Potatoes are now cultivated to some extent in 

 Russia, but they are of recent introduction, and 

 it was for some time difficult to induce the pea- 

 santry cither to cultivate or to eat them, for the 

 simple reason that they came recommended by 

 their lords, who were not unnaturally perhaps 

 suspected of some selfish or sinister motive in 

 that recommendation. Horticulture has attained 

 to a high degree of perfection in Russia under 

 the auspices of its princes and nobles, and it is 

 a curious fact that more pine-apples are grown 

 in the immediate vicinity of St Petersburgh, 

 than in all the other countries of continental 

 Europe. 



In Poland, gardening was practised earlier than 

 in Russia, considerable progress having been 

 made in the art at the end of the seventeenth 

 century, during the reign of Stanislaus Augus- 

 tus. There is a very remarkable garden at War- 

 saw, known by the name of Lazenki. This was 

 formed, and the palace to which it was attached 

 was built, by the last king of Poland. Among 

 other curious and some very magnificent objects 

 in these gardens, are numerous pedestals ranged 

 in various situations, and upon these, instead of 

 sculptured statues, living human figures of both 



sexes were placed on festal occasions. These 

 persons were dressed in classical costume, and 

 were taught to assume and maintain certain atti- 

 tudes in keeping with the characters they were 

 intended to represent. 



It is to Spain that the rest of Europe is in- 

 debted for the introduction of many plants from 

 Jlexico, Chili, and Peru. Seeds were brought 

 from these regions, in the reign of Ferdinand the 

 Sixth, for the royal garden of Madrid, whence 

 their produce has been distributed. Spain is very 

 rich in cultivated fruits, so that some species are 

 made to fonn articles of external commerce ; but 

 the same pre-eminence in garden cultivation docs 

 not now appear which was claimed for her by 

 Columella in the time of the Roman republic, 

 and which was probably as well deserved during 

 the dominion of the Moors. The oldest an<l 

 most extensive gardens now to be found in Spain 

 are of Moorish origin, and have once been ap- 

 pendages to the palaces of their Arabian kings. 



The Chinampas, or floating gardens of Mexico, 

 are justly considered objects of the greatest 

 curiosity. The invention of these gardens is said 

 to have arisen out of the extraordinary situatioi 

 in which the Aztecs were placed on the conquest 

 of their country by the Tepanecan nation, when 

 they were confined in great numbers to the small 

 islands on the lake, and were driven to exercise 

 all manner of ingenuity in order to provide a 

 sufficiency of food for their sustenance. Hum- 

 boldt conjectures that the firet idea of these float- 

 ing gardens may have been suggested by nature 

 herself, seeing that, " on the marshy banks of 

 the lakes of Xochimilco and Chalco the agitated 

 watei-s, in the time of the great floods, carry away 

 pieces of earth covered with herbs and bound 

 together with roots. The first Chinampas were 

 mostly fragments of ground artificially joined 

 together and cultivated." Following up this sug- 

 gestion, it would not be difficult, by means of 

 wicker-work formed with marine plants and a 

 substratum of bushes combined with tenacious 

 earth or clay, to construct similar gardens of 

 adequate dimensions. Upon these was placed 

 fine black mould sufficiently deep for the sus- 

 tenance of the plants which it was desired to 

 raise. The form usually given to these Chin- 

 ampas was quadrangular, and their size varied 

 from one hundred and fifty to three hundred 

 feet in length, with a breadth of from twenty to 

 seventy feet. 



At first the use of these floating gardens was 

 confined to the growth of maize and other objects 

 of absolute necessity; but in the progress of 

 time, and when the Mexicans had shaken off 

 the yoke which rendered this restricted appi'o- 

 priation necessary, the owners of the Chinampas 

 applied themselves to the production of vegeta- 

 Ide luxuries, and grew fruits, and flowers, and 

 odoriferous plants, which were used for the 



