380 
FLOWERS AND PLANTS OF SCRIPTURE. 
method of proceeding, that he pursues it even 
when the crop is all of one kind, that he may 
select what he deems the ripest.' (Tennant's In- 
dian Recreations, in Mdinb. Review, iv. 320.) 
" There is no reason to suppose that the 
gardens of the ancient Jews differed in any 
material respect from those which are still 
found in Palestine. Such difference as did 
exist was doubtless occasioned chiefly by the 
minute rules which were founded upon the law 
forbidding the intermixture of diverse plants 
and seeds. The gardens of the Holy Land 
have been mentioned by travellers in terms 
too vague and general to afford the basis of a 
satisfactory description. Dr. Olin seems to 
have paid most attention to them. Of the 
gardens near Shechem, he says, ' Upon turn- 
ing an angle in the steep gorge, we found 
ourselves, as if by enchantment, in the midst 
of fruitful gardens filled with vegetables, 
flowers, and fruit-trees, and all in the highest 
perfection of luxuriance and beauty. Olives, 
vines, acacias, pomegranates, figs, mulberries, 
and several species of trees which I did not 
recognise, are crowded together in small en- 
closures, forming an impervious shade, as well 
as an impenetrable thicket ; and yet the capa- 
bilities of the soil seem not to be overburdened. 
Each separate tree and plant thrives to admi- 
ration, and seems rather to profit than suffer 
from the thick dark canopy of branches 
and foliage, which entirely excludes the sun's 
rays from the tangled huddle of trunks and 
roots. A beautiful mountain stream runs 
through the midst of this forest of gardens, 
in a channel mostly artificial, and sometimes 
covered ; but the water often rises into small 
fountains, and forms several cascades.' {Tra- 
vels in the East, ii. 350.) The orange and 
citron trees, which abound in these gardens 
near Shechem, (see Schubert, Reise ins Mor- 
genlande, ii. 116,) were probably those not re- 
cognised by Dr. Olin, from their not being in 
fruit at the time of his visit." — Pp. 736, 737. 
Geometrical gardens were not, it seems, 
unknown, nor unappreciated by the ancients, 
but we are not quite sure they were contrived 
after our present notions. It would seem 
they approved of large gardens being laid out 
so, while we rather limit a geometrical gar- 
den to a space that the eye can command at 
once, with all the figures displayed, at a glance; 
as if their whole gardens must be uniform, 
instead of the eye wandering over rich land- 
scape, and falling upon a well-managed figure, 
like one of the views in a kaleidoscope, in 
some pleasant nook, which is our notion of 
the place for a geometrical garden. Upon 
this subject the author says : — 
" ' The ancient plans of gardens show that 
the Egyptians were not less fond than our 
ancestors of mathematical figures, straight 
walks, architectural decorations, and vege- 
table avenues ; and that they as thoroughly 
entered into the idea of seclusion and safety 
suggested by enclosures within enclosures. 
It has been remarked that, in some old En- 
glish places, there were almost as many walled 
compartments without, as apartments within 
doors ; and the same may be said of Egyptian 
country houses. This principle of seclusion, 
and an excessive love of uniform arrangement, 
are remarkably displayed in the plan of a large 
square garden, given in Professor Rosellini's 
great work, I Monumenti dell' Ecjitto. Here — 
" Grove nods at grove, each alley has a brother, 
And half the platform just reflects the other." 
This royal garden must have formed a most 
enviable retreat from "the intolerable day" 
of an Egyptian summer. The whole was 
shut in by an embattled wall. On one side, 
a canal runs along just without the walls. In 
the centre of the enclosure is an oblong walled 
vineyard ; the vines, planted in rows, or ave- 
nues, are trailed above on trellis-work, form- 
ing shady arched walks. The space on one 
side this central vineyard exactly corresponds 
to that on the other. In each there is a row 
of palms, an oblong tank with water-fowl, 
four flower-beds on a lawn, and an open 
summer-house on the margin overlooking the 
pool ; an oblong walled compartment of trees ; 
a second tank with water-fowl and flowers ; 
and all along within the wall of circuit, a row 
of trees, of three kinds, in regular alternations. 
At one end of the garden, next the entrance, 
is a building containing apparently one large 
room, perhaps for the royal entertainments ; 
at the other end, or back, is a house of three 
stories, which commanded a view of the whole. 
This garden, with its sheltered walks, its 
groves and tanks of water, its seclusion and 
privacy, reminds us of the " fair garden" of 
Joacim at Babylon, with its baths, its deep 
shady coverts, and its " privy gate," in the 
apocryphal story of Susannah.' " — P. 737. 
We shall close our quotations here, for we 
have given enough to show the nature of 
those articles which belong peculiarly to our 
subject. The articles on natural history, 
geology, entomology, and the arts and sciences 
of the ancients, are exceedingly clever and 
deeply interesting, and the embellishments are 
numerous, well executed, and elaborate. We 
therefore commend Dr. Kitto's volumes ; they 
present a rich intellectual treat for the in- 
quiring mind ; indeed we hardly know where 
else to look for so large a proportion of amuse- 
ment and instruction, combined, too, as the 
whole range of subjects necessarily are, with 
much that is calculated to improve not only 
the mind but the heart. 
