So PROLEGOMENA 



from the rest by a wall; within the area thus protected, 

 the native vegetation was, as far as possible, extirpated; 

 while a colony of strange plants was imported and set 

 down in its place. In short, it was made into a garden. 

 At the present time, this artificially treated area presents 

 an aspect extraordinarily different from that of so much 

 of the land as remains in the state of nature, outside the 

 wall. Trees, shrubs, and herbs, many of them apper- 

 taining to the state of nature of remote parts of the 

 globe, abound and flourish. Moreover, considerable 

 quantities of vegetables, fruits, and flowers are pro- 

 duced, of kinds which neither now exist, nor have ever 

 existed, except under conditions such as obtain in the 

 garden; and which, therefore, are as much works of the 

 art of man as the frames and glass-houses in which 

 some of them are raised. That the "state of Art," thus 

 created in the state of nature by man, is sustained by 

 and dependent on him, would at once become apparent, 

 if the watchful supervision of the gardener were with- 

 drawn, and the antagonistic influences of the general 

 cosmic process were no longer sedulously warded off, 

 or counteracted. The walls and gates would decay; 

 quadrupedal and bipedal intruders would devour and 

 tread down the useful and beautiful plants; birds, in- 

 sects, blight, and mildew would work their will; the 

 seeds of the native plants, carried by winds or other 

 agencies, would immigrate, and in virtue of their long- 

 earned special adaptation to the local conditions, these 

 despised native weeds would soon choke their choice 

 exotic rivals. A century or two hence, little beyond 

 the foundations of the wall and of the houses and 

 frames would be left, in evidence of the victory of the 

 cosmic powers at work in the state of nature, over the 

 temporary obstacles to their supremacy, set up by the 

 art of the horticulturist. 



