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foot of Mount Bagistanus — so famous that Alexander, on one of his splendid 

 marches, turned aside to visit it. The splendor of the Persian paradise is 

 reflected in brilliant poetry, tracing its wonders. As to the gardens of 

 China, follow our friend Mons. L'Abbe Hue. Study in him the. Poem of 

 the Garden, written in the eleventh century by the statesman. See Mako- 

 nane, and better stiil, the eulogium on the city of Mouliden, written by the 

 Emperor Kien Long, and translated by Father Amiot in 1770. 



Humboldt said they knew, a thousand years ago, a great many precious 

 vegetables, and cultivated them well. Recollect the prodigies of Roman 

 sumptuosity; those magniffcent gardens of Lucullus, of Mecsenas, Sallust, 

 Pompey, Cwsar, Agrippa, and of Pollio. The eternal murmur of fountains, 

 far-brought plants, artificial caves, woods, every figure of art and fancy, 

 their winter gardens, flowers watered with warm water, all the lilies and 

 spring flowers flourishing at the time of frost, vines and fruits too, the use 

 of glass at Pompeii. In more recent times, the gardens of St. Thomas in 

 Greenland (or Iceland), mentioned by the Brothers Zeni, in 1388, warmed 

 by hot springs. Other gardens, and in the thirteenth century, at Cologne, 

 by the sorcery of Albert the Great, as the vulgar said. In 1249, the con- 

 vent of the Dominicans, on the 6th of January, visited by William, Count 

 of Holland and King of the Romans, a garden full of trees, flowers and 

 fruit, and the song of the birds in it, attributed by the outsiders to witch- 

 eraft, but all owing to the science of Albert, so far in advance of his age. 

 Linnasus says that the first banana ripened in Prince Eugene^s garden at 

 Vienna. 



Lorenzo de Medicis filled Jiis gardens with Oriental flowers, and his ex- 

 ample was much copied. 



Botanic gardens were established in Florence in 1545; Padua, 1546; 

 Boulogne and Pisa in 1547 ; University of Leyden in 1575 to 1580 ; Leip- 

 sic, do; Faculty of Medicine, Paris, 1597 j Montpelier, 1598; Giessen, 

 1605; Altorf, 1625; Jardin des Plantes, Paris, 1626; Jena, 1629; Ox- 

 ford, 1640 ; Copenhagen, do ; Madrid, 1655 ; Upsal, 1657; Coimbra, 1673 ; 

 tlie park of Trianon in 1759. We are deeply engaged now in acclimating 

 foreign plants and animals; and we now state those heretofore introduced, 

 that we may judge of the importance of acclimation. Our wheat and 

 buckwheat came from Asia ; our rye came from Siberia ; our rice came from 

 Ethiopia; Indian corn came from South America; cucumbers came from 

 Spain ; artichokes came from Sicily and Andalusia ; chervil came from 

 Italy ; cress came from Crete ; lettuce came from Cos, 



The fishes in the artificial ponds of Lucullus were sold, after his death, 

 for 776,800 francs. Some taught their fishes to know their call, and kiss 

 their hands, like dogs. Their fishes were named, and some kept regular 

 accounts of their races, as of so many horses. Eels eat ofi" the hand, and 

 had rich ear-rings at Chios i 



Quadrupeds, birds, insects and reptiles had their palaces in Rome. We 

 know not any bird establishment now comparable to that described by Varro. 

 *''I have," he says, "a river passing through my villa, with a long alley on 



