HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION 
IKE all the decorative arts, that of ornamental gardening extended with civilisation 
from East to West. The Romans obtained much of their knowledge of horti¬ 
culture from the Greeks, who in their turn had drawn their inspiration from 
the Egyptians and other Eastern nations. 
Unfortunately, the knowledge we possess of Greek horticulture is some¬ 
what restricted ; but there can be little doubt that the Greek garden was strictly 
utilitarian in character, and in all probability consisted of a simple enclosure, 
with vegetable garden for herbs, leeks, &c., a fruit garden, and a vineyard. The Greeks had but little 
feeling for landscape beauty, neither do they appear to have taken much delight in the cultivation 
of flowers, of which they possessed but a small variety ; these were cultivated principally for religious 
ceremonial and the making of festal garlands, for which purpose both the violet and rose were much 
in request. 
The word hortus , we are told by Columella, was derived from the Greek, and signified 
a small enclosure where the necessary herbs and vegetables for family use were grown. Where, 
however, gardens were planted for the cultivation of flowers, and for the pleasure they gave to 
their owners, they appear to have been designed in a regular and symmetrical way. Plato, writing 
in the fourth century B.c., speaks of images and statues, sacred to certain nymphs and to Achelous, 
having been erected in gardens. A very early form of garden decoration was the herm, the origin 
of which is to be found in the squared wooden post, usually tapered and diminishing downwards 
to facilitate its being driven into the ground. This was used in marking out the limits of land, 
and oftentimes carved with the head of Hermes, the tutelary god of fields, and was thence known 
as a hermes or herm.' We know, too, that in their gardens Greek philosophers were wont to 
propound their doctrines to eager bands of pupils and disciples who flocked to hear their dis¬ 
courses. Theophrastus (fourth century B.c.), in his will, leaves his garden to the common enjoy¬ 
ment of his friends, and pathetically asks that his remains be interred in the garden he loved so 
well during his lifetime. 
There is little to be gathered from ancient authors concerning the very early Roman 
gardens, and the idea of a laid-out pleasure garden hardly existed in the early days of the 
Republic, when all attention would be given rather to the cultivation of the vegetables necessary 
for sustaining life than to the art of horticulture; and, except in rare instances, it is hardly 
1 Latin terminus , and thence also ‘ terminal,’ whence term in French. 
