27G 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARBENER^ 
k\  Til  6,  1899.. 
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OLD  BOTANICAL  GARDENS. 
Referring  to  these  in  his  “  History  of  Gardening,”  the  late  Mr. 
G.  W.  Johnson  has  recorded  that  “Previous  to  the  reign  ot  Elizabeth 
(1558 — 1603)  horticulture  was  considered  as  little  more  than  a 
mechanical  art.  Botany,  previous  to  this  period,  was  almost  unknown 
as  a  science,  and  it  must  be  acknowledged  that  botany  is  a  chief  part 
of  the  only  foundation  upon  which  an  enlightened  practice  of  horti- 
botanic  garden  in  Switzerland  at  Zurich  in  1560;  one  was  established 
at  Paris  in  1570,  at  Leyden  in  1577,  LeipHc  1580,  Montpelier  1598, 
Jena  1628,  Oxford  1632  (by  the  Earl  of  Derby).  Sir  Jacob  and  Sir 
Andrew  Balfour  endowed  one  at  Edinburgh  in  1680,  and  the  Apothe¬ 
caries’  Company  that  at  Chelsea  in  1673,” 
We  were  led  to  refer  to  the  work  mentioned  on  reading  a  highly 
interesting  and  profusely  illustrated  article  on  the  “  Botanical  Garden 
of  Padua,  ’  in  part  4,  vol.  xxii.,  of  the  present  quarter's  issue  of  the 
Journal  of  the  Royal  Horticultural  Society,  and 
_  we  cite  a  portion  of  what  is  said  by  “Islander”  on 
Fig.  C6.— C'HAM^Eors  humilis  at  Padua,  Age  340  Years 
culture  can  be  raised.  In  this  reign  England  was  enriched  w'ith  the 
first  regular  establishment  for  the  scientific  cultivation  of  plants  in  the 
Physic  Garden  of  Gerarde  (1547).  It  was,  however,  not  in  England 
alone  that  the  study  and  cultivation  of  plants  became  more  popular,  as 
a  desire  for  the  improvement  of  a  knowledge  of  plants  jiervaded 
Europe  simultaneously  at  this  period,  Paoua  took  the  lead  by 
establishing  a  public  Botanic  Garden  in  1533.  Lucas  Ghintis  at 
Bologna,  who  was  the  first  public  professor  of  botany  in  Europe, 
was  a  strenuous  advocate  of  such  institutions.  By  his  influence  a 
similar  garden  was  established  at  Bologna  in  1547,  where  Dr.  Turner 
(who  died  in  1568)  first  imbibed  much  of  that  knowledge  which 
rendered  him  eminent  in  this  country.  Gesncr  constructed  the  first 
The  Oldest  Botanical  Garden  in  the 
W  ORLD. 
“In  the  year  1533,  at  the  suggestion  of 
Bonafede,  a  new  chair  was  created  in  the 
University  of  Padua,  and  called  ‘  Lectura  Sem- 
plicium.’  This  chair  was  intended  for  teaching 
botany,  and  is  with  right  claimed  to  have  been 
the  first  of  its  kind  in  Europe  to  give  public 
lectures  on  botanical  science.  Later  on  the  want 
was  felt  of  illustrating  these  lectures  with  prac¬ 
tical  examples,  and  in  consequence  in  the  year 
1545  the  botanical  garden  was  created  lor  this 
purpose. 
“  The  botanical  garden  of  Padua  occupies  an 
area  of  20,664  square  metres,  in  the  middle  of 
which  a  circular  space,  having  a  diameter  of 
84  metres,  is  especially  reserved  for  the  different 
laniilies  of  plants,  according  to  the  natural  order 
of  Jussieu.  Neariv  the  whole  garden  is  surrounded 
by  the  Alicorno  Canal,  which  at  a  certain  place 
is  captured,  and  by  means  of  a  hydrophore  (dating 
from  1575)  is  made  to  pass  through  the  whole 
garden.  In  the  year  1593  leaden  tubing  was 
laid,  and  at  present  seventeen  fountains  supply 
the  watering  power  of  the  garden. 
“  This  marvellous  old  garden,  the  oldest  in 
the  whole  world,  has  many  rare  plants  to  show, 
some  of  which  are  almost  as  old  as  the  gaiden 
itself. 
“  Of  tl  ese  first  an<l  foremost  must  be  men¬ 
tioned  the  veteran  Vite.x  Agnus-castus,  which 
was  ]ilantcd  in  the  year  1550,  and  was  spoken  of 
by  Bauhin  in  1650  ns  being  then  one  of  the  sights 
(4  the  ganlcn.  It  is  over  5  metres  high,  and  has 
a  circumference  of  1  m.  80  cm.  Daring  the  winter 
of  1879-80  the  intense  cold  made  it  lose  all  its 
young  branches,  but  after  a  rather  hard  struggle 
for  1  fe,  and  though  its  trunk  is  quite  deformed 
and  hollow,  and  its  bark  corroded,  it  managed  to 
pull  through,  and  is  now  as  vigorous  as  ever. 
“  Next  to  this  comes  the  famous  Chamaerops 
humilis  (fig.  66)  planted  in  1595,  and  up  to  16(32 
known  by  the  Piefects  (Directors)  of  this  botanical 
garden  by  the  name  of  Palma  humilis;  later, 
about  1720,  thiough  Poutedera,  this  plant  became 
knowm  as  Chamaeriphe  (Chamaeriphes  tricarpos, 
SI  inosa,  folio  flabelliformi)  and  only  since  about 
1737,  when  Linnaeus  in  his  ‘  Musa  Cliffortiana  ’ 
called  it  Chamaerops,  has  it  here  become  known 
under  this  its  proper  name.  This  Chamaerops  is 
formed  of  twelve  principal  branches,  measuring 
each  about  65  cm.  in  ci  cumference  and  reaching 
to  a  height  of  9  m.  25  cm.  As  these  pro¬ 
portions  .«eem  to  be  larger  than  those  of  this 
species  in  its  wild  state,  this  particular  Chamaerops 
received  the  appellation  of  arborescens.  The 
strange  fact  about  the  plant  is  that  it  seems  to 
h.avo  already  attained  its  maximum  height  in 
1720,  when  Pontedera  in  his  ‘  Anthologia  sive  de 
Floris  natura’  sptke  about  this  plant  as  being 
9  m.  in  height,  and  having  only  three  main 
branches,  whereas  in  1854  the  number  of  branches  is  stated  to  have 
been  nine;  whilst  the  height,  since  it  reached  its  9  m.,  has  hardly 
increased  at  all. 
“  When  Goethe  came  to  Padua  on  September  27th,  1786,  this  Palm 
attracted  his  supreme  attentioi^,  and  the  thorough  study  he  made  of  it 
served  him  as  a  basis  for  his  ‘  Essay  on  the  Metamorphosis  of  Plants,’ 
published  by  him  in  1790.  Padua,  gratelul  to  him  for  this  distincticn, 
recalls  this  fact  in  an  inscription  over  the  Palm  house.  [This  inscrip¬ 
tion  is  reproduced  in  the  R.H.S.  Journal.]  And  when  Boito,  in  1881, 
gave  his  ‘  Mefistofele  ’  for  the  first  time  in  Padua,  he  was  prc.ented 
with  a  wreath  made  of  leaves  belonging  to  this  Chamaerops,  now 
always  known  here  under  the  name  of  ‘  Palma  di  Goethe.’ 
