CHAPTER II 



GARDENS OF THE PLAINS AGRA 



Each Morn a thousand Roses brings, you say ; 

 Yes, but where leaves the Rose of Yesterday ? 



And this first Summer month that brings the Rose 

 Shall take Yamshy"d and Kaikobad away. 



OMAR KHAYYAM. 



FAR away to the northward of the sunbaked 

 plains of Agra, beyond the great snow barrier 

 of the Himalayas, lies the small kingdom of 

 Ferghana " on the borders of the habitable 

 world," as Babar, Prince of Gardeners, shortly 

 describes his native valleys on the opening page 

 of his inimitable Memoirs. 



With the advent of the Emperor Zehireddin 

 Mohammed, called Babar (the Tiger), the history 

 of garden-design in India may be said to begin ; 

 and throughout his Memoirs, the record of 

 thirty-five years spent in almost incessant war- 

 fare, there are repeated references to flowers 

 and gardens. 



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