ON THE TEEES AND SHKUBS OF 



THE ANCIENTS. 



LECTUKE I. 



OF TREES PRODUCING FRUIT ACORNS AND RESIN. 



TTAVING in my former Lectures on Rural Eco- 

 nomy included an account of the gardens 

 of the ancients and of the plants therein culti- 

 vated, I propose on the present occasion to intro- 

 duce to your notice the trees and shrubs which 

 constituted their forests, or were admitted into 

 their pleasure-grounds and plantations. 



For this Pliny is our principal authority, as in 

 his 12th and subsequent books he enters at large 

 into the subject of trees and forests, regarding 

 them as the most valuable presents conferred by 

 Nature upon mankind. It was from the forest, he 

 says, that man drew his first aliment, by the leaves 

 of the trees his cave was rendered more habitable, 

 and by their bark his clothing was supplied ; in- 

 deed, even in his day, nations existed which had 

 not advanced beyond this primitive condition. 



Now it is worthy of remark, ^hx3w_majny_j:>f the 

 trees that we know to be well adapted for the cli- 

 mate of Italy, had nevertheless, according to Pliny's 

 account, been traced to a foreign source. 



Amongst Fruit-trees, we are assured that the 

 Cherry, the Peach, the Quince, the Damson, the 



