THE 



GARDENER'S MAGAZINE. 



DECEMBER, 1835. 



ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS. 



Art. I. A Summary Vieiu of the Pi-ogress of Gardening, and of 

 Rural Improvement generally, in Britain, during the past Year ; 

 tvith some Notices relative to the State of both in Foreign Countries. 

 By the Conductor. 



GrARDENiNa being coeval with building was, like that art, at 

 its commencement, rude, and confined entirely to the production 

 of culinary vegetables and fruits. With the progress of archi- 

 tecture, gardening also kept advancing, till, from being an art of 

 culture merely, it at last became, like it, an art of design and taste. 

 Passing over the history of gardening m the ages of antiquity, 

 and in its dormant state during the middle ages, we come to its 

 revival, in common with that of the other arts, in the 16th 

 century. In the age of Louis XIV. a great impulse was given 

 to gardening, as an art of design, all over Europe. During the 

 same age, also, the first successful attempt to establish the art 

 of culture on something like general principles was made by 

 Quintiney, the contemporary of Le Notre. 



In England, gardening made considerable progress under 

 Henry VIII. and Elizabeth, but more under Charles II., Wil- 

 liam III., and George I., II., and III. The large importations 

 of plants from America during the early part of the 18th cen- 

 tury, by throwing a number of new and highly ornamental trees 

 and shrubs into the country, formed, no doubt, one of the causes 

 which gave rise to the modern style of laying out grounds. 

 That style became general about the middle of the last century, 

 and gave a powerful stimulus to nurserymen, and to the head 

 gardeners of gentlemen, all over the country. Towards the end 

 of the century, the force of this impulse had, in a great measure,' 

 abated ; and the publication of the Essays on the Picturesque^ by 

 Uvedale Price, came in aid of the natural decline of what may 

 be called the Brownian system of laying out grounds. 



About the beginning of the present century, gardening, as an 

 art of culture, began to attract attention : first, perhaps, in the 



Vol. XI.— No. 69. yy 



