OF GARDENING. 



XV 



his expeditions from the eastern part of Asia, where it is most 

 Hkely that he contracted a taste for gardening. 



In the gardens of the Augustan age, Virgil describes the 

 chicory, cucumber, ivy, acanthus, myrtle, narcissus, and 

 rose ; but of the progress of gardening in this age, tradition 

 is very silent. From Cicero and Pliny the elder, we learn, 

 that the quincunx manner of planting trees was then gene- 

 rally in use ; and by Martial we are informed, that the clip- 

 ping of trees was introduced by Cneus Matius, a friend of 

 Augustus. 



That which has been termed the Dutch style of gardening 

 was used about this time, and it is supposed to have been the 

 style adopted by Pliny, in the formation of his garden, and 

 it was used in this country in the reigns of King William and 

 of Queen Elizabeth, specimens of which still remain, the 

 most perfect of which is at Holm-Court, in Herefordshire, and 

 is supposed to have been laid out by Loudon and Wise. This 

 taste, displayed by Pliny, appears to have prevailed until the 

 decline of the Roman empire, and, owing to its having been 

 displayed in a minor degree in the gardens of religious houses 

 during the dark ages, as well as in the writings of Pliny, has 

 thus been handed down to modern times. " Every country- 

 house," says the Roman historian, "had its gardens in the 

 days of PHny ; and it is not too much, taking this circumstance 

 in connection with the remarks of Columella, to hazard a 

 conjecture, that even the Romans themselves considered their 

 gardens less perfect than their houses." 



The following fruits were introduced into Italy by the Ro- 

 mans, viz. : the peach from Persia, the fig from Syria, the 

 pomegranate from Africa, the citron from Media, the apricot 

 from Epirus, cherries from Pontus, and apples, pears, and 

 plums from Armenia. Hirshfield observes : " The rarity and 

 beauty of these trees, joined to the delicious taste of their fruits, 

 must have enchanted the Romans, especially on their first in- 

 troduction, and rendered ravishing to the sight, gardens which 

 became insensibly embellished with the many productions which 

 were poured into them from Greece, Asia, and Africa." They 

 also attempted, with considerable success, the forcing of fruits. 

 Sir J oseph Banks conjectures, fi'om the Epigrams of Martial, 



