OF GARDENING. 



xvil 



The Dutch being a maritime people, were amongst the most 

 early introducers of plants from the Levant and from the two 

 Indies ; and their gardens contained, at one period, a much 

 greater number of plants than all the rest of Europe combined. 

 The civil wars, however, which desolated that country in the 

 sixteenth century, were also the cause of the destruction of 

 their gardens. It was in the Botanic garden of Leyden that 

 Boerhaave, who was then Professor of Botany, first exemplified 

 the principle for adjusting the slope of the glass of hot-houses, 

 so as to admit the greatest number of the sun's rays, according 

 to the latitude of the place, &c. It was in this garden that 

 the two numerous genera of the geraniums and mesembryan- 

 themums were first introduced from the Cape. As Holland is 

 not well supplied with gravel, the walks of this garden are laid 

 with a mixture of peat-moss, and rotten bark reduced to a 

 powder. 



The Dutch have been long, and are still noted for their skill 

 in the cultivation of bulbs of all sorts. Hirschfield states that, 

 in the register of the city of Alkmaar, in the year 1637, it is 

 recorded that one hundred and twenty tulips, with their offsets, 

 M^ere sold publicly, for the benefit of the Orphan Hospital, for 

 nine thousand florins, and that one of those flowers, named the 

 Victory, sold for four thousand two hundred and three florins. 

 The prices given for such flowers appear enormous, but now 

 they are not so high as formerly ; the highest price demanded 

 for the most rare being about one hundred guilders, or eight 

 pounds two shillings and sixpence for each bulb, 



The Dutch and Flemings are eminent as fruit-gardeners as 

 well as florists ; and they possess many fine varieties of fruits, 

 particularly pears. Culinary vegetables are also brought to 

 great perfection ; and Brussels is particularly noted for a 

 species of greens or sprouts, which bear the name of that 

 town, and which have been long cultivated in its vicinity. The 

 gardens of the cottagers in the Netherlands are much better 

 managed, and more productive, than in any other country. 

 Every cottage has a garden attached to it, and every available 

 particle of matter capable of acting as a manure is collected, 

 and when properly ameliorated by repeated turning and fre- 

 quent fermentations, is applied to the ground. The plants in 



