are reared throughout Europe. There is little that is worthy of remark in what has been stated with regard 
to the methods employed for the cultivation of their vegetable gardens. Recent travellers have endeavoured 
to throw an air of discredit upon the relations of the learned men whose accounts have been noticed. 
It is indeed not impossible that these reverend Fathers may have endeavoured to draw a little upon the 
credulity of their readers ; but, on the other hand, it must be considered, that while our own intelligent 
countrymen who have been admitted within the borders of the Celestial Empire have had their opportunities 
for observation limited to the time employed in the performance of a rapid journey, during which they were 
always watched by a government escort, their precursors remained for a considerable time in the country, 
and could consequently examine things at their leisure and in comparative freedom. 
From the earliest times the Persians have been great gardeners ; but historians and travellers have 
only thought deserving of their notice gardens which have been constructed for the pleasure of monarchs, 
or as proofs of their wealth and power. 
That the Greeks also took pleasure in horticultural pursuits we have the direct testimony of Theo- 
phrastus and Aristophanes. Flowers were always in great request among them. At convivial meetings, at 
public festivals, and in religious ceremonies, the presence of these was always required. To so great an 
extent was this use of flowers carried, that artists were established in Athens whose sole occupation it was 
to compose wreaths and crowns with flowers of different species, each of which was understood to convey 
some particular mythological idea. 
The Romans, amid all their conquests, never forgot to forward the useful arts of life, but carried with 
them into other countries such as they already possessed, while they showed themselves to be willing 
learners of others which they found established and which were new to themselves. It is fortunate for the 
interests of humanity that the benefits which they thus became the means of disseminating were in their 
nature such as would soften and repair the miseries occasioned by the sword ; and that these benefits have 
remained to bless the countries which their armies overran. 
It may be supposed that an art which was capable of ministering so greatly to their personal gratifi- 
cation as that of vegetable gardening would not be neglected by the Romans. Columella has given a very 
considerable list of culinary plants which they possessed, and some of these must have been both excellent 
and plentiful, since he speaks of them as being esteemed both by slaves and kings. 
The more luxurious among the Romans were accustomed to force vegetables, and the Emperor Tibe- 
rius is said to have been so fond of cucumbers that he secured by that means a supply for his table through- 
out the year. 
The kitchen-gardens of the modern Italians contain nearly every vegetable that we possess ; but their 
methods of cultivation are not such as to afford them in that degree of perfection in which we are accus- 
tomed to enjoy them, and to which the climate would seem qualified to bring them. The gardens of the 
peasants throughout the Italian states are but very scantily supplied, gourds and Indian corn comprising 
nearly all which they are made to contain. It is only in the gardens attached to religious houses that 
horticulture is pursued with any skill. In the labours of these the friars themselves are accustomed to 
assist, while in other situations in that country the office of a gardener is commonly filled by one who has 
had little or no instruction to fit him for the employment. 
Gardens are found universally throughout the Netherlands, so that, to use the words of Sir W. Temple, 
“ gardening has been the common favourite of public and private men ; — a pleasure of the greatest, and a 
care of the meanest, and indeed an employment and a possession for which no man there is too high nor 
too low.” There is not a cottage to be seen which has not a garden attached to it ; and although this is 
sometimes exceedingly small, the high degree of culture which is bestowed upon it renders the spot avail- 
able for the comfort of the cottagers family. Towards this desirable object every particle of matter capable 
of ameliorating the soil is carefully collected and applied. From these circumstances, it may be readily 
supposed that the Dutch are possessed of every fruit and esculent vegetable that their climate is capable of 
maturing. 
In France, although gardens are not nearly so universal as in Holland, they are still very generally met 
with, their characteristic quality being that of neatness. This statement refers, however, more correctly to 
the northern than to the southern division of the kingdom, where the cottagers’ gardens resemble much 
those of the Italian peasants, as well in their careless mode of culture as in the paucity of their contents. 
Nothing can be objected against the system pursued by the market gardeners who supply the French me- 
tropolis, and by whose skill and industry many vegetables are brought to a very luxuriant growth. 
In the north of Europe gardening is in general a favourite pursuit, and the cottages of the peasants 
are for the most part provided with a spot of ground sufficient in extent to answer the demands of their in- 
mates. This is not so much the case, however, in the Prussian dominions. Cabbages and potatoes form 
the greater part of the produce there obtained by the cottagers. The gardens of the higher classes are very 
differently managed, so as to produce vegetables in great variety and abundance. 
