348 
sides of these walks were enclosed with white and red Roses and with Jasmine 
in such a manner as to exclude the morning and even the midday sun. What 
variety of plants, and how elegantly disposed, it would be needless to mention, 
since there wals nothing belonging to our climate which was not there in great 
abundance. 
From another source I learned that a Botanic Garden was 
founded at Padua as early as 1525, and another at Genoa in 
1559, proving that a taste for the study of plants and flowers 
existed at that early date. 
A FTER much searching, I found in the Marcian Library 
in Venice an old volume entitled “ Di Florum Cultura” by 
Giovanni Battisto Ferrari, written originally in Latin, trans¬ 
lated into Italian and published in 1638: it proved to be a 
treasure-trove. The author, believing in the value and novelty 
of his work, has padded it with an elaborate introduction to the 
reader, introduced much high-flown diction, and flowery phrases, 
and seems to have lingered to enjoy their fragrance. Then 
he has embellished his tome with expensive copperplate en¬ 
gravings, one showing what a Lrench hoe looks like and an¬ 
other exhibits a drain-tile entwined with floating ribbons. 
1 found myself lingering also over these superfluous matters 
and derived amusement from the advice to “sift the earth in 
the Ides of Lebruary,” and to lay out our garden according to 
a plan “drawn with all the skill of a geometrician.” Here sev¬ 
eral plates were introduced to show the complicated patterns 
of the flowerbeds then the fashion. Then he says that “colors 
of the flowers must be selected to harmonize at all seasons, and 
beds must be just wide enough to allow of gathering the flowers 
or of pulling the weeds, ” and he sagely remarks that the flowers 
do not like the shade of trees any more than Diogenes liked to 
have Alexander interfere with his sunshine. 
The portion of the book which had most bearing on the 
question I had come to in¬ 
vestigate was the chapter de¬ 
scribing the flowering plants 
in common use at the time 
the book was published, 1638, 
for the best and most famous 
gardens of Italy were planned 
and planted either shortly be¬ 
fore or shortly after that date, 
consequently the flowers and 
plants described by Lerrari 
must have been the stock 
available to the gardeners 
on the princely estates. The 
list is as follows: Narcissus 
in many varieties, Crown- 
imperial, Colchicum, Tulip, 
Lritillary, Iris, Lilies in va¬ 
riety, “Orchi,” Ornithogalum, 
Hyacinth, Cyclamen, Anem¬ 
one, “Violaceo fucus,” Ra¬ 
nunculus, Asphodel, Peonies, 
Lilies-of-the-valley, “Iuca in- 
diana,” “ Leonide of Con¬ 
stantinople,” Trumpet-vine, 
“Tracilio americano” or Car¬ 
dinal-plant, Pinks, Jasmine, 
Roses, various flowering 
shrubs such as Acacia, Elder, 
and Rose-of-Siena, which, in 
the engraving much resembles 
our Rose-of-Sharon. The list 
includes about thirty different 
varieties of flowering plants. 
The Garden Magazine, July, 1924 
Now Lerrari, in writing his book, purposed to explain a new 
method for culture of these flowers, thereby implying that they 
had been cultivated by some other method for a considerable 
time previously, and we might reasonably believe that they 
represented the stock in use in his epoch, a period at which 
many of the famous gardens of Italy were newly planted, or 
soon to be planned. A list of gardens, with the dates of their 
foundation, shows that the most active time for the garden 
architects was from 1550 to 1650. Lerrari closes his chapter on 
the flowers by eloquently apostrophising certain gardens thus: 
“O! Garden of the Larnese who loveth to nourish your blue 
Lilies. O! Garden of the Aldibrandini at the Quirinal benignly 
splendid with your stars,” and ends his book with a chapter 
headed “The Works of Nature Greater than Those of Art.” 
T HE evidence seemed sufficient to prove the use of flower 
in the old gardens, and, in addition to this, 1 was able to 
deny the assertion that the climate of Italy is too dry to support 
the life of flowers, for I visited the Villa Vicobello, near Siena, 
during a period of unusual drought, in spite of which 1 was 
able to count eighteen different varieties of flowers in bloom. 
Having established the status of the flowers to my own satis¬ 
faction, it seemed proper at the same time to discover to what 
extent they were used, and what part they played in the garden 
composition. 
All Italian art is characterized by a preference for form. This 
it was which gave the sonnet its prominent place in poetry, 
which made the classic style in architecture, and which endeared 
the formal garden to the Italians. The art of gardening was an 
art of symbolism, and the different elements employed in a 
composition were meant to represent corresponding elements 
in undisciplined nature. 
Old writers tell us that a garden should contain a lawn with 
a fountain in the middle of 
it, an arbor of Grape vines, 
some parterres of flowers, a 
grotto, an orchard, a little 
grove, and a vegetable garden. 
If possible, there should also 
be a pond with some fish and 
swans, and a collection of birds 
and animals. The clear in¬ 
tent of this grouping was to 
express, within the restricted 
space of the garden, the spirit 
of all landscape, the prairie, 
the forest, the cavern, the sea, 
and the wilderness. It was a 
translation of nature, made 
stilted and stiff, to conform 
to the manners and customs 
of society. The garden be¬ 
came a sort of sampler, where 
available material was given 
a place, and the parterres, 
especially, were like bits of 
embroidery of elaborate pat¬ 
terns, occupying a restricted 
space in the scheme. A few 
ribbon borders sometimes 
edged the lawns, but, as a 
rule, the flowers were confined 
to the small section of their 
own, where the poets and 
dandies might make use of 
them for their florid phrases 
and classic metaphors. 
OLD ITALIAN GARDEN A PLACE OF PRAYER 
Nature was translated, “made stilted and stiff, to conform to the man¬ 
ners and customs of society: flowers were confined to a small section 
of their own, and the garden became a sort of sampler with bits of 
embroidery, 1 ’ as shown in this reproduction of Fra Angelico’s “ Prayer 
In the Garden’’ (Gallery of Art Ancient and Modern, Florence, Italy) 
