114 



The Garden Magazine, April, 1922 



Palm, where their pollen would be blown 

 of? on the flowers. The cut of the Palm 

 here is rather formal, and apparently 

 merged with the representation of the 

 "Tree of Life," which occurs frequently in 

 the Babylonian cylinder seals and bas- 

 reliefs. 



As long as 3,000 years ago, we find the 

 Assyrians attempting to transplant trees 

 from one country to another, as had already 

 been done in Egypt by Queen Hatshepsut. 

 (The Garden Magazine, February, 1922, 

 page 312.) One of the inscriptions of 

 Tiglath Pileser, of Assyria, about 1 100 

 B. C, declares: "Cedar trees, ukarinu, and 

 allakanu trees, I took away from the lands 

 which I had conquered ; 

 trees which none of my 

 fathers had planted, I 

 planted in the parks. 

 Valuable garden fruits 

 which were not to be 

 found in my own coun- 

 try, I brought away, 

 and caused the gar- 

 dens of Assyria to 

 bear." 



Sennacherib, like- 

 wise, about 700 B.C., 

 declared that he 

 planned " a great park 

 resembling a moun- 

 tain, in which were all 

 kinds of fragrant 

 plants, fruit trees, and 



. •:A^<-T> t '" c i '-.-* 



fVVVVWVVVVWVWVVVVVI 



products of the mountains, and of Chaldaea." Several of the 

 bas-reliefs belonging to Sennacherib's reign, and discovered by 

 Layard at Kuyunjik, near Nineveh, include details illustrating 

 trees on artificial terraces and, in fact, on the roofs of palaces 

 themselves. 



One of these depicts a temple on a hill with trees not only on 

 the side of the hill, but to the right of the temple on a terrace, 

 which evidently has several pointed arches supporting it. 

 (Fig. III.) Another scene shows the sacking of a town in 



II. POLLINATING BY HAND 



Plucking the spathes of the male Palm 



tree to fecundate the blossom of the 



female Palm shown on an ancient 



Chaldaean cylinder seal 



Phoenicia. Here we have, in addi- 

 tion to many trees in the foreground, 

 what are probably the tops of trees 

 appearing above the battlements. 

 A detail which makes this identifica- 

 tion more certain, is that one of the 

 trees on the tower to the right, ap- 

 pears to have been cut down, and to 

 have fallen part way over the battle- 

 ment. At the very top of the pic- 

 ture, men may also be seen, probably 

 engaged in chopping down a tree, but 

 the bas-relief has been broken off, 

 and the scene is incomplete. 

 Before the time of Sennacherib, the Assyrian 

 artist had indicated only the general nature of the 

 trees and plants which he depicted, but in his 

 bas-reliefs appear complete and carefully treated 

 backgrounds in which it is not difficult to dis- 

 tinguish a number of different species of trees. 

 One of the slabs of this series ends in a row of 

 hills covered with Cypresses, Fig trees, Pomegran- 

 ates, vines, and a sort of dwarfed Palm. 



A general view of an estate is given in another 

 bas-relief. Here appears a rectangle in which the 

 trees are arranged in rows, and one may discern a 

 system of watering by canals or ditches. 



A detail in a bas-relief found at Kuyunjik rep- 

 resents shadufs at work, of practically the same 

 construction as used in Egypt. In this case the 

 shadufs are one over another, which was the 

 method employed to raise the water to successively 

 higher levels. 



The enjoyment of flowers and fruits by the king 

 is indicated in a bas-relief which outlines long rows 

 of men carrying them as tribute, or the spoils of 

 conquest, to the ruler. It is easy to recognize the 

 pomegranate, figs, and grapes among the fruit. 

 What appears like a pineapple is probably the head or "cab- 

 bage" of the Palm tree, which was a favorite fruit at that 

 period. The flowers (Fig. IV), in the reproduction are on so 

 small a scale that it is difficult to identify them, especially as 

 they may have been selected from all western Asia. It is known 

 that some parts of Asia Minor at the time were alive with 

 flowers, which included the Anemone, Poppy, Iris, Gladiolus, 

 Tulip, Rose, Arbutus, and Myrtle. 

 Other trees of the period mentioned were the Pistachio, 



III. TREES ON A 

 TERRACE 



Supported by arches 

 (at right) ; the hillside 

 at the left being also 

 planted with trees 

 and surmounted by a 

 temple; Assyria 

 about 700 B. C. 



IV. BEARING FLOW 

 ERS AS TRIBUTE 



Section of a bas-relief of 

 Sennacherib's time (700 

 B.C.); a distinct advance 

 in draftsmanship, the slow 

 stately march of these 

 men across the long frie?e 

 evidencing considerable 

 feeling for rhythmic 

 beauty 



