EARLY HISTORY 11 
where then, and later, the wealthy merchant princes 
liberally encouraged almost all branches of horticulture. 
Thus encouraged the florists entered heartily into the 
business of supplying their patrons, and, aided by a 
suitable climate and the various inventions born of 
necessity, they made Holland famous throughout the 
world for its commercial horticulture. So careful, how- 
ever, were the Dutch of every inch of land, much of it 
reclaimed, that they laid out their gardens with mathe- 
matical precision and consequent primness, carrying this 
principle into the very trees and plants themselves. 
It was in the early part of the fourteenth century that 
Pierre de Crescent, of Bologna, wrote his work on Agri- 
culture, wherein he describes the kinds of pleasure 
gardens suitable for various classes of the community, 
and a suggestion of formality of design and the use of 
Topiary is made in his observation that a royal garden 
should contain a menagerie, and also an aviary placed 
among thickets, arbors and vines. | 
