^ HE eultiTation of Exotic Plants, whether pursued 

 // ^1 with the Tiew of producing fruits or flowers, is 

 admitted to hold the highest rank in horticul- 

 tural science, and it would appear that a taste 

 for the enjoyments this pursuit yields must 

 have existed from a Yer\' early period, and that 

 it has kept pace with the more refined and peaceful arts wherever these have 

 flourished. The writings of Virgil, Horace, Seneca, and Martial sufficiently 

 prove, that among the nations of antiquity a very strong attachment 

 existed for cultivating exotic flowers and the two latter historians speak 

 practice both of retarding and producing them prematurely by artificial 

 means during the more luxurious days of the empire. 



About the commencement of the fifteenth century, the wealthy mer- 

 chants of Venice and Genoa began to introduce the plants of the East 

 into Europe, and botanical collections were commenced by the inha- 

 bitants of these opulent and enterprising cities. The wealthy Flemings 

 also, according to Lobel, imported plants from the Levant and the East 



