HORTICULTURE JX RELATION TO MEDICINE. 



49 



other varieties of fruits, which are described by Pliny.* Indeed, except the 

 pineapple, orange, gooseberry, raspberry, and currant, the list includes 

 most of the fruits now in culture in hothouses, even cucumbers being 

 forced in hothouses warmed by wall-Hues and having mica plates instead 

 of glass. In the time of Augustus even the long-berried grapes which 

 they called " dacty tides " were known; the cultivation of flowers was 

 carried to excess, and late and early roses were specially grown. Nero is 

 stated to have given a sum equivalent to £30,000 of our money for roses 

 for one supper, and Cleopatra the value of £200 on a similar occasion. 

 The art of horticulture was apparently unknown in Britain before the 

 Roman invasion, for Strabo, writing early in the first century, remarks 

 that " the people of Britain are as a rule ignorant of the art of cultivating 

 plants in gardens " ; although Tacitus (a.d. 79) points out that "the soil 

 and climate were suitable for all kinds of fruit trees, and for most vegetables, 

 except a few peculiar to warmer climates." 



Traces of Roman gardening remain in the Saxon and English names 

 of various plants, several of which are of medicinal interest, viz. — Magdula 

 treow for the almond, Haennet for hemp, Celendre for coriander, Lactuca 

 for lettuce, Lufestice for lovage, Mealve for Mallow, Poppig for poppy, 

 Ruta for rue, and Ulm treow for elm tree. Two rare plants, the one, 

 Astrantia major, found near Ludlow, and the other the Roman nettle 

 (Urtica pilulifera), occurring near Caistor, still remain as relics of the 

 Roman occupation of Britain. But much of the knowledge of horti- 

 culture was lost when Britain was abandoned by the Romans in the fifth 

 century. 



It is remarkable that although we owe the word "horticulture " to the 

 Roman language, the word " garden " is derived from the Saxon, the origin 

 of the word being the Saxon "geard " or "garth," signifying an inclosure, an 

 earlier form of the word being " yard," or, as spelt by Chaucer, " yerde," the 

 use of this form still surviving in the Pond Yard at Hampton Court and 

 in the kail yard of the Scotch, and in the family names of Appleyard and 

 Applegarth. The same root also gave rise to the word " orchard," which was 

 formerly called "hort yard," a form of spelling found in Holland's "Pliny," t 

 and thus distinguished from "wyrt" yard or "herb garden." The same word 

 for " herb " is still in use in many common names of plants, as in St. John's 

 wort, spleen wort, woundwort, &c. " Hortus " is perhaps derived from the 

 Greek x°'p ro? > which meant a garden in the Middle Ages as well as in 

 Roman times. The family names Cortis and Curtis are possibly forms of 

 the same word. 



The earliest record of physic gardens occurs after the Roman period, 

 and dates from the ninth century, when the separate cultivation of medi- 

 cinal plants is mentioned in connection with monasteries and abbeys. In 

 the time of Charlemagne several such gardens are alluded to (760-814). 

 In that of the Abbey of St. Gall, near the Lake of Constance, the physic 

 garden is shown in the plan of the grounds near the doctor's quarters. 

 This garden contained sixteen oblong beds, four of which were on each 

 side of the central path, and the remainder formed a border under the 

 walls, each of the beds containing one herb and each having its special 

 label. The medicinal herbs contained in them were amongst the herbs 

 * Lib. xxv. f Lib. iv. 20. 



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