54 



HISTORY OF GARDENING. 



Part I. 



lebrity of the Swedish botanists, and of the Upsal garden, is universal. It was difficult, 

 Deleuze observes, to form vegetable collections in the northern countries ; but industry 

 can conquer obstacles, and the more precautions necessary to secure the plants from the 

 vigor of the climate, the more will culture be perfected. 



248. The botanic garden of Upsal was founded in 1657, under the auspices of King 

 Charles Gustavus, and by the attention of Olaus Rudbeck. This learned man, seconded 

 by the credit of the Count of Gardie, chancellor of the academy of Upsal, and who had 

 himself a fine botanic garden at Jacobsdahl, obtained funds necessary for the construction 

 of a garden and green-house, and to collect foreign plants ; and he augmented its riches 

 by the gift he made of his own garden in 1662. The progress of this establishment 

 may be seen by comparing the three catalogues given by Rudbeck in 1658, 1666, 1685. 

 The latter enumerates 1870 plants, among which are 630 distinct species of exotics. 

 (Bib. Banksiana.) In 1702, the fire which consumed the half of the city of Upsal, re- 

 duced the green-house to ashes, and the garden was in a deplorable condition till 1740, 

 when its walls were rebuilt. Two years afterwards the botanical chair and the direction 

 of the garden were given to Linnaeus ; and the university, undoubtedly excited by that 

 reformer of natural history, took charge of all the necessary expenses for the acquisition 

 and preservation of plants. Linnaeus, feeling how essential it was to be assisted in all the 

 details of culture, obtained Diderich Nutzel, a clever gardener, who had visited attentively 

 the gardens of Germany, Holland, and England, and who had then the charge of that of 

 Cliffort, in Holland. He there constructed new green- houses, intended for plants of 

 different climates ; and he- solicited successfully the principal botanic gardens of 

 Europe for specimens. Soon after, several of his pupils, whom he had excited with enthu- 

 siasm for botany, went across the seas to collect seeds and specimens ; and many tropical 

 plants, first grown at Upsal, were sent from thence to the southern countries of Europe. 



The description and plan of the garden of Upsal may be seen in the Amoenitates Academics. (Dissert 7. 

 t. i. p. 172.) Linnaeus, in 1748 and 1753, published the catalogue of the plants cultivated there, and since his 

 time, others have appeared, containing the additions which have been made by his successors. In 1804, 

 the large orangery, built by Linnaeus, was found to be considerably out of repair, and was taken down and 

 rebuilt. A magnificent lecture-room and museum was at the same time added. The ceilings of these 

 rooms are supported by columns, whicli being hollow, are used as flues, and thus afford an elegant and 

 effectual means of heating the air. On the whole, the garden is respectably kept up ; and many hardy 

 plants, natives of North America in particular, are found here in greater luxuriance than in France or 

 Germany. 



249. In horticulture the Swedes are considered as successful operators ; but their short 

 summers are adverse to the culture of many sorts of fruits and culinary vegetables in the 

 open air ; and there is not yet sufficient wealth to admit of forcing, or forming artificial 

 climates to any extent. The apple, pear, and plum ripen their fruits in the best districts, 

 especially in warm situations ; but where the better varieties are grown, they are always 

 planted against walls, and protected, as in Denmark. The Rubus chamcemorus, or cloud- 

 berry (Jig. 20.), is very common in 

 Lapland; its fruit is delicious, and 

 sent in immense quantities, in autumn, 

 from all the north of the Gulf of 

 Bothnia, to Stockholm, where it is 

 used for sauces, in soups, and in mak- 

 ing vinegar. Dr. Clarke was cured of 

 a bilious fever, chiefly from eating 

 this fruit. There are a few forcing- 

 houses near Gottenburg and Stockholm 

 for peaches and vines ; and one or two 

 instances of pines being attempted in 

 pits near the capital and in East Goth- 

 land. The borecoles, red and green, the 

 rutabaga and potatoe are the popular 

 vegetables ; but the best gardens have most of the Dutch and English varieties of the 

 culinary tribe. 



250. The towns and cities of Norway, Dr. Clarke informs us (Scandinavia, ch. 17. 1806), 

 were formerly supplied with culinary herbs from England and Holland ; but gardening 

 became more general after the publication by Christian Gartner of a manual adapted to 

 Sweden. Now all sorts of vegetables are common round Tronijem. The gardens of the 

 citizens are laid out in the Dutch taste, and full of fruits and flowers. Of these are enu- 

 merated, apples, pears, plums, cherries, strawberries, cabbages, cauliflowers, turnips, cu- 

 cumbers, potatoes, artichokes, lupines, stocks, carnations, pinks, lilies, roses, and many 

 other garden- flowers. In the garden of the minister of Enontekis (Jig. 21.), a village 

 situated 287 miles north of Tornea, and perhaps the best garden in Lapland, Dr. Clarke 

 found pease, carrots, spinach, potatoes, turnips, parsley, and a few lettuces. The tops of 

 the potatoes were used boiled, and considered a delicate vegetable. 



