lOS 



HISTORY OF GARDENING. 



Part I. 



gation, may effect a material change in the climate, and millions of human beings may 

 live and exert their energies where civilised man at present scarcely dares to tread. 



498. Examples of British, Dutch, and French gardening, in different colonies, will be 

 found in the West Indies, East Indies, Ceylon, Cape of Good Hope, New South 

 Wales, Van Diemen's Land, Cayenne, and Malta. 



499. West India Islands. The native products of these islands are various and ex- 

 cellent, and they have been greatly increased by fruits and spices, introduced from the 

 East Indies and other places. Among these it may be sufficient to mention the pine- 

 apple, bread-fruit, mangostan, durion and cinnamon. There is a large botanic garden 

 at St. Vincents, and others at Trinidad and Martinique, supported by their respective go- 

 vernments. There was formerly one of seventy acres in Jamaica, of which some particulars 

 deserve here to be recorded. " Tlie botanic garden of Jamaica was originally begun by 

 J. Hinton, Esq., and afterwards bought by government, and enlarged so as to contain 

 seventy acres. One of the objects of its establislunent was to preserve, without artificial 

 means, the production of various climates. Such a project could only be executed in a 

 tropical latitude, where the various elevations of tlie ground would regulate the required 

 temperature. The site chosen for this purpose is about seven miles from Kingston, 

 on the side of the Liguanea mountain, the summit of which is 3600 feet above tlie level 

 of the sea. Here, ascending from the base, are found the productions of the various 

 countries of the earth ; every change of situation represents a change of latitude, and the 

 whole surface of the mountain may be clothed with the appropriate vegetations of every 

 climate, from the pole to the equator. By means of this noble and useful establishment, 

 the vegetable productions of various climes have been naturalised to the soil, and the 

 plantations of Jamaica have been enriched with many valuable trees, shrubs, and plants, 

 which were heretofore unknown in the island ; of these may be mentioned cinnamon, 

 mangostan, mangoes, sago, bread-fruit, star-apple, camphor, gum-arabic, sassafras, &c. 

 introduced from a French ship captured in 1782." [Edwards's Jamaica, 188.) In tlie 

 year 1812, the whole was sold by the House of Assembly, for the small sum of 

 4000/. to an apothecary in Kingston. It is impossible to avoid regretting such a cir- 

 cumstance. Some account of the garden of St. Vincents will be found in the Traus- 

 actions of the Society of Arts. Pine-apple plants, and also ripe fruits, are frequently sent 

 from the West Indies to Europe, and arrive commonly in a fit state for planting and the 

 dessert. 



500. East Indies. Bengal, the province longest under British subjection, resembles 

 Egypt, in consisting of one immense plain of fertile soil, watered by the Ganges, which 

 overflows it annually. Calcutta, the capital, has been subject to the English since 

 1765, but it does not appear that much has been yet done by the East India Company, 

 in the way of gardening. 



In the park at Barraclpoor, about sixteen miles from the capital, are the unfinished arches of a house 

 begun by the Marquis of Wellesley, but discontinued by the frugality of the Court of Directors. There is 

 also a menagerie, and not far distant the botanic garden, ^'e^y picturesque villas and cottages have 



may cite, as an examp 

 39 



been formed by the British in most of the East Indian settlements. 

 M'Kinnon's cottage {Jig. 3a\ in the neighbourhood 

 of Madras. It is tfiatched with palm-leaves. 

 Town-houses and large country-houses are com- 

 monly flat-roofed; and the roof shaded by an 

 awning, sers-es as a banquetting-place. 



The botanic garden of Calcutta was founded in 

 1790, it is beautifully situated on the west b.ink of 

 the river, and gives to one of its bendings, the 

 name of Garden-reach. Above the garden there 

 is an extensive plantation of teak, a tree not a 

 native of this part of India, but which thrives well 

 here. This garden was under the direction of Dr. 

 Roxburgh, well known as the author of a work on 

 the plants of Coromandol. Maria Graham {Let- 

 ters from India) describes it as rich in palms, mi- 

 mosas, and parasitic plants, and as neatly kept. 

 Seeds from this garden are sent annually to Kew 

 and other Europerai gardens ; as well as to various 

 British settlements in the East, as Ceylon, <S:c. 



The orchard of Bengal is what chiefly contributes 

 to attach the peasant to his native soil. He feels a 

 superstitious veneration for the trees planted by his ancestors, and derives comfort and profit from their 

 fruit. Orchards of mango-trees diversify every part of this immense country ; the palmira abounds in 

 Bahar. The cocoa-nut thrives in those parts which are not remote from the tropic. The date-tree 

 grows every where, but especially in Bahar. Plantations of the areca, or Bet&l-palm, are common in the 

 central parts of the country. 



The culinary vegetables of Eui-oipe have all been introduced into Irtdia. Potatoes grown there are deemed 

 equal in quality to those of England. Asparagus, cauliflower, pease, and other esculent plants, are raised, 

 but tJiey are comparatively tasteless. 



The dessert of Earopea'ns in Calcutta, is distinguished by a vast profusion of most beautiful fruits, pro- 

 cured at a very moderate expense, such as pine-apples, plaritains, mangoes, pomeloes or shadocks, melons 

 of all sorts, oranges, custard-apples, guavas, peaches, and an endless variety of other orchard-fruits. 



Forest-trees do not naturally abound in Bengal ; the teak-tree {Tectona grandis) is the oak of the East, 

 and grows in abundance in the hilly kingdoms of Birman and Begum, whence Calcutta is supplied for 

 the purposes of naval architecture. Whether it shall be found worth while to cultivate this tree in 

 Bengal, appears very doubtful. The bambo.o is the timber used in the general economy of the country. 

 Hedges of native armed plants are occasionally used round gardens, orchards, and small enclosures. 



