Chapter X 
GARDENS PUBLIC AND BOTANICAL 
‘ TT T is to the great awakening of the Middle Ages, with 
l\ its impetus to all learning, including botany, the 
JL revival of medicinal lore, and the botanical collec¬ 
tions fostered by the new learning, rather than to any 
inherent love of the cultivation of the beautiful, that we 
may trace back the real initiation of our modern pro¬ 
ficiency in the art of gardening.” 
This is the opinion given by K. L. Davidson, in his 
comprehensive little book, “ Our Gardens,” a popular 
review of English gardens and gardening, and he goes 
on to show how the small plots planted for the use of 
scholars and doctors with herbs and simples, with no 
thought whatever of flowers for their own sake, gradu¬ 
ally developed into places as lovely as they are useful, 
collecting into themselves the trees and plants and 
shrubs of the world, whether of economic or esthetic 
value, and experimenting along many lines of use and 
beauty. 
The initial efforts of man are always concerned with 
practical results. Beauty is an afterthought, though it 
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