X 



RISE AND PROGRESS 



Frequent mention is made by the same iffstorian of vine- 

 yards, which were the gardens of those days, being cultivated 

 by the majority of the people, through whose lands the chil- 

 dren of Israel passed on their journey to the promised land. 



Several gardens, belonging to Jewish princes and their sub- 

 jects, are mentioned in the sacred Scriptures ; but that of 

 Solomon is the principal on record. Solomon was not only a 

 cultivator of a garden, but is also the first person recorded in 

 history in the character of a botanist. He is said to have 

 been acquainted with all trees, " from the cedar of Lebanon, 

 to the hyssop which springeth out of the wall." 



The garden of Solomon was quadrangular, enclosed by a 

 high wall, and contained, among other plants, the rose, the 

 lilly of the valley, calamus, camphire, spikenard, saffron, and 

 cinnamon; timber-trees, as the cedar, the pine, and the fir; 

 and fruits, such as the grape, fig, apple, palm, and pome- 

 granate. It also contained water, in wells and living streams, 

 and the situation, in all probability, was contiguous to the 

 palace, similar to the gardens of some of his successors. 



Solomon had also a vineyard at Baalhamon, which he let 

 out at one thousand pieces of silver, or £158. sterling, per 

 annum. 



Ahasuerus, also, had a garden near his palace, although we 

 have no further account of it than that he returned out of the 

 palace-garden into the place of the banquet of wine, where 

 the queen was. {Esther vii. 7, 8.) 



Ahab wished to have the vineyard of Naboth, the J ezreelite, 

 to make it a garden of herbs, because it was contiguous to his 

 palace. Upon being refused, he was very sorrowful, but his 

 wife Jezebel found means to impeach Naboth, by false wit- 

 nesses, of treason, and caused him to be stoned to death, and 

 then delivered the desired vineyard into the hands of her 

 husband. 



Many other gardens are mentioned both in the Old and 

 New Testaments, sufficient to bear ample testimony of the 

 importance in which they were held by the Jews, and the 

 people immediately connected with them. 



Our account of the horticulture of the antient Jews is very 

 imperfect; but, like tliat of the majority of the eastern nations, 



