SECTION 11. 



HISTORY OF THE ART, FROM THE EARLIEST DOWN TO THE 

 PRESENT TIMES. 



When we consider tlie singular beauty and usefulness 

 of trees, it cannot seem surprising that tliey should have 

 been the favourites of mankind in all ages. That the 

 polished nations of antiquity assiduously cultivated them, 

 we have the most unquestionable evidence, both for hor- 

 ticultural and agricultural purposes. Theophrastus, who 

 was the scholar of Plato and Aristotle, composed an 

 elaborate treatise on the history and properties of plants, 

 which, together with the remains of the Greek Geoponic 

 writers, has survived the wreck of learning, and evinces 

 how great a degree of attention was bestowed on the sub- 

 ject by that ingenious people. 



Among the Romans, the cultivation of trees formed an 

 early object of study. By the laws of the Twelve Tables, 

 the cutting down or injuring them was an offence which 

 was visited with severe penalties. Oato, Varro, and 

 Columella wrote particularly on both fruit and forest trees ; 

 and Varro, who was contemporary with Julius Caesar, 

 enumerates more than fifty different Avriters on rural 

 affairs (of which arboriculture was a constituent part) 

 who in his time were held in estimation.! 



In this state of rural information and intelligence, it 



* Note I. f De Re Rust. c. i. 



