I. A DECORATIVE PAINTING IN THE TOMB OF APOUI, NINETEENTH DYNASTY, ILLUS- 

 TRATING THE USE OF SHADUFS IN WATERING THE GARDEN. (For fuller description see page 313) 



A PICTORIAL HISTORY OF THE GARDEN— II 



H. H. MANCHESTER 



Transplanting Trees Three Thousand Years Ago — First Attempts at 

 Founding a Botanical Garden — The Temple Gardens of Ancient Egypt 



Editors' Note: — In the initial article of this series (see The Garden Magazine for January, 1922, pages 237-240) gardening activities were 

 traced from the dawn of history in Egypt up through the Twelfth Dynasty, or until nearly 2000 B. C. Then followed a period of political confusion 

 with the invasion of the Hyksos or Shepherd Kings who swept into northern Egypt from Asia. These warlike souls left, comparatively few monuments 

 to record the story of the next five hundred years, and so it was not until after their expulsion by the rulers of Thebes and the establishment of the New 

 Kingdom that we are able to again pick up the thread of our narrative about 1633 B. C. after the accession of Thothmes I. 



It is amazing to find the Egyptians thirty centuries ago raising Apples, Artichokes, Asparagus and other delicacies still grown by us to-day; to 

 come upon them busily irrigating, transplanting, cultivating their gardens with all the zest and much of the skill of a twentieth-century gardener. 

 For all they lived so very long ago and so very far away, we feel ourselves their kin, linked to them by a fundamental instinct common to both — the 

 need and the joy of delving. 



It is pleasant to reflect that the beauty of the garden has long been a source of delight to men in many lands, and today's "high tea" on the terrace 

 is lent an added piquancy by the memory of Asurbanipal and his queen dining out-of-doors in ancient Assyria with similar enjoyment — and greater 

 state — some twenty-five hundred or more years back. 



To follow the footsteps of the garden from its earliest beginnings up through the ages; to trace its passage from Egypt to Asia Minor, Greece, and 

 Rome; to watch its development in the hands of Mahommedan and mediaeval monk is a superlatively fascinating pursuit to gardener and antiquarian 

 alike, who will find in Mr. H. H. Manchester an able and dispassionate guide during the coming months as successive accounts appear. 



IN EGYPT THIRTY CENTURIES AGO 



garden 



NDER. Thothmes i, in the early part of the Eighteenth 

 Dynasty, lived the scribe Anna, to whom we should offer 

 many wreaths for furnishing us with the most definite 

 statement in existence of the contents of the Egyptian 

 In his tomb his soul is pictured going forth to enjoy it- 

 self in a garden as he did in life. This is supplemented with a 

 unique list of his trees, which runs as follows: 



Sycamores 90, Persea trees 3 1 , Date Palms 1 70, Dom Palms 

 120, Fig Sycamores 5, Acacia 3, Quince 1, Vines 12, Other Fig 

 trees 5, Thorns 5, Poplars 3, Willows 8, Tamarisks 10. Count- 

 ing six other specimens which are unidentified, there were about 

 five hundred in all. 



In this period we find a remarkable evolution of the garden 

 in connection with the temples. This was due, no doubt, both 

 to a high appreciation of the beauty of the garden, and to the 

 very important use of its products as offerings and for other 

 religious purposes. 



One vegetable product most essential in the ritual of the 

 Egyptian was incense. This was not native to Egypt, but was 

 imported from the Land of Punt, which, for this reason, was 

 called god's land. This in itself indicates in what great esteem 

 incense was held. It was considered so important that Hat- 

 shepsut, a queen of the Eighteenth Dynasty, fitted out an expedi- 

 tion of several of the largest ships of the period, and sent them to 



Punt to bring back growing incense trees and other products of 

 the country (Fig. Ill, page 312). This is probably the earliest 

 record of a deliberate transplanting of trees from one country to 

 another. 



The expedition was accounted by the queen as one of her 

 greatest deeds, and described in detail in the temple in which 

 she expected to have her tomb. Various scenes of the sailing 

 of the ships, the trading in Punt, the importations, and the 

 presentation of the offerings to the god, help to make the narra- 

 tive vivid. 



One of the paintings illustrates the carrying of the living 

 Myrrh trees on board one of the vessels. The roots were placed 

 in a large bucket to which a rope was fastened in a loop, which 

 was hung over a pole. The carrying of each tree up the plank 

 was accomplished by six men resting the pole upon their shoul- 

 ders. This picture represents eight such trees, which was about 

 a quarter the number imported. 



Over the picture is written a description which runs in part: 

 "Loading the ships to the full with wonders of the Land of 

 Punt; with rare fragrant woods of the god's land; with heaps 

 of myrrh and resin; with living myrrh trees; with ebony and 

 genuine ivory; with green gold of Emu; with cinnamon wood 

 and khesyt wood; with ihmut incense and acacia incense," etc. 



After the expedition returned, the offerings were presented to 



311 



