OrnameJital Gardening t?i Liomhardy. 639 



Art. II. Historical Notes on Ornamental Gardening in Lombardy, 

 particularly as relates to the Introduction of Foreign Trees and 

 Shrubs ; with an Account of the present State of the principal Foreign 

 Trees in the Garden of Monza, near Milan. By Sr. Giuseppe Ma- 

 NETTi, Director and Lecturer on Botany, &c., of that Garden. 



The first introduction of foreign trees and shrubs into Lom- 

 bardy took place about the year 1770, when a taste for ornamental 

 gardening, in the natural style, first began to prevail. The first 

 of these English gardens, as they were called in Lombardy, were 

 those laid out by the brothers Pecinardi, near Cremona, of which 

 a description and a poem have been printed, both of which I 

 will send you. The plan of these gardens being in imitation of 

 nature, it became necessary to plant them with trees and shrubs 

 that were varied in their foliage, and in the colour of their 

 flowers, to ornament them, and this led to the introduction of 

 foreign trees. The brothers Zappa, from whom Scopoli named 

 the Zappa^w'a, had then a garden at Sesto St. Giovanni, half way 

 between Monza and Milan. They were Dutch merchants, and 

 introduced many hardy and tender plants from Holland, among 

 which are the following : — Aucuha japonica, Azalea glauca, A. 

 glabra, Chionanthus virginica, Coriaria wyrtifolia, and Cratse^gus 

 lucida; Dais za'ticifolia, Wistarza frutescens, Lagerstroe^mm in- 

 dica, iaurus Sassafras, Magnolm grandiflora, iVfelia Azedarach^ 

 M. sempervirens, Quercus ^'gilops, Sterculia ^latanifolia, Vi- 

 burnum cassinoidQ?,, Cephalanthus occidentalis, DIrca palustris, 

 Gymnocladus canadensis, Paliurus australis, »Spartiumjunceum, 

 and Catalpa sj/ringcsfolia. Unfortunately the collection was lost, 

 after the death of the proprietors, by their successors, who had 

 no taste for Flora. About that time the Marquis of Casoni had 

 an ornamental garden formed at Derio (a town about ten miles 

 from Milan, and three from Monza, in Brianza), in which he had 

 many fine exotic trees, which are still remaining ; such as the 

 jPinus *Str6bus, MagnohVz grandiflora, Acacia Julibrissin, Xan- 

 thoxylum/i-axineum, Gymnocladus canadensis, i^agus sylvatica, 

 F. atropurpurea, &c. The Marquis Ciculini of Como, and one 

 Agnesi of Milan, also introduced foreign plants, but their col- 

 lections are no longer in existence. 



In 1785 Count Lewis Castiglioni undertook a voyage to North 

 America, and on his return brought a great many seeds, which 

 he sowed at Mozzate, about fifteen miles from Milan, and after- 

 wards distributed over all Italy. These were, the seeds of ^^cer 

 rubrum, saccharinum, pennsylvanicum, and Negundo ; .^'sculus 

 Pav/fl!, Andromeda arborea, Asvmina triloba, Aralia spinosa, jBetula 

 lenta and nigra, Catalpa syringcefbWa, Cassine paragua, Cel- 

 tis occidentalis, Cephalanthus occidentalis, Cercis canadensis, 



