I t may be sufficient here to mention, in the hoiticultural department, Miller and Ju s tic e ;
in floriculture, Parkinson and Maddock; in planting, Evelyn and Nicol; and in land-
scape-gardening, G. Mason and Whately.
ClIAP. V.
O f thepresent State o f Gardening in Ultra-European Countries.
726. The gardens o f the old continents arc either original, or boiTowcd from modem
Eiu'opc. With the exception of China, the gardens of eveiy other country in Asia,
Africa, and America may be comprised under two h e a d s : the aboriginal gai-dcns,
displaying little design or cultm-c, except in the gardens of rulers and chiefs; and
the gai-dens of European settlers, displaying something of the design and cultiu-e of their
rcspective countries. Thus th e gardening of the interior of Asia, like the manners of
the inhabitants, is the same, or nearly the same, now, as it was 3000 years ago ; that of
North America is B ritish ; and that of almost all the commercial cities in the world,
except those of China, is European, and generally either Dutch, Fi-ench, o)- English.
We shall notice, in succession, the principal countries in Asia, Africa, America, the
West India Islands, and Australia.
Sect. I. O f thepresent State o f Gardening in Asia.
727. Gardening in Asia, as an a rt of design and taste, is the same as it ever has
been within the records of human knowledge. I t differs chiefly from that of Europe
in the absence of tm-f, and of open gravel w a lk s ; the heat of the climate preventing the
growth of the one, and rendering unsuitable the use of the otlier. The outlines of a
gai-den, neai-ly 3000 years ago, coincide with the gardens formed in the same counti-ies
at the present day. Maimdi-ell in the fourteenth century, Chardin in the seventeenth,
Russell ill the eighteenth, and Moricr in the nineteenth centuries, enumerate the same
trees and plants mentioned by Moses, Diodorus, and Herodotus, without any additions.
The same elevation of site for the palace (fig. 206.), the same terraces in front of it, and
the same walls and towers smrounding the whole for security, stiU prevail as in the time
of Solomon and his successors. As an ai-t of culture, the gardening of Asia, like that
of aU hot countries, is characterised by the use of surface irrigation. We shall notice
the different countries in tlie order of Asia Minor, Persia, Arabia, Hindostán, Ceylon,
the Birman empfre, Borneo, Java, Malacca, Siam, Cochin-China, Singapore, Japan,
and the Chinese empire.
Subsect. 1. O f the present State o f Gardening in Asia Minor, ^c.
728. The garden o f the Emir Facardine, a t Beroot, is described by Maundrell as a
large quadrangular spot of ground, divided into sixteen lesser squares, four in a row,
with walks between them, and planted with citron trees. Each of the lesser squares
was bordered with stone, and in the stonework were troughs, very artificially conti-ived
for conveying the water all over the garden, there being little outlets cut at every tree,
for the stream, as it passed by, to flow out and water it. On the east side were two
terrace walks, rising one above the o th e r; each having an ascent to it of twelve steps.
A t the north end they led into booths and summer-houses, and other apartments very
delightful. (Journey from Aleppo to Jerusalem at Easter, p. 40.)
729. The gardens o f Damascus are described by Egmont and Heyman as perfect
paradises, being watered with copious streams from Lebanon; and in the Account o f the
Ruins o f Balbec, the streams are said to be derived from Libanus and Anti-Libanus ;
and the shades of the palms and elms are described as exquisite in that burning climate.
The time of the singing of bfrds is mentioned in Solomon’s Song as a season of great
pleasure; and then, as now, they no doubt constituted a material article in fine gardens.
Russell observes, that “ iu Syria there ai-c abundance of nightingales, which not only
afford much pleasure by thcii- songs in the gardens, but arc also kept tame in the houses,
and let out at a small rate to divert such as choose it in the sp rin g ; so that no entertainments
are made in this season without a concert of these birds.” (Natural History of
Aleppo, p. 71.) William de Bouldesall, who wrote an account of Ins peregrinations in
the East in 1331, visited the monastery of St. Catherine at the foot of Mount Sinai, and
was delighted vnth. its gardens and scenery. A t Damascus he was astonished at the
splendour of the gardens which sun-ounded that city, wliich, he says, amounted to
40,000. _ In crossing the mountains to Sidon, Buckingham met at least fifty mules
laden with myitle for the supply of families in Damascus to strew on the graves of
thcir deceased friends. He was told that a similar caravan went every month. (Travels
among the Arab Tribes, p. 408.) The same traveller informs us that Lady Hester
Stanhope, who resided in Syria, had her summer residence at Mount Izcbanon, and licr
winter one in the convent of St. Elias, near Seyda, the ancient Sidon. In the latter
she had turned one of the courts of the convent into an English flower-garden; and
into this garden all the doors of her living-rooms opened. (Ibid., p. 421.) Near Vostizza,
the iEcium of the ancients, on the beach of the stream Selinus, Hobhouse found “ tlio
enormous plane t]-co, which w-as notorious in the time of Chandler. One of its largest
branches, as thick as the trunk of most trees, has lately fallen off; and many of the otlier
boughs are supported by long beams of wood.” (Journal o f Travels in Albania, ^c.,
p. 229.) The saine tree is described by Buckingham as being fifteen feet in diameter,
and 100 feet in height, and as being covered with rich and exuberant foliage.
730.^ The famous cedars o f Mount Lebanon are thus mentioned by Buckingham : _
“ Leaving Biskerry on our right, we ascended for an hour over light snow, until we
came to the Arz-el-Libenein, or the cedars of Lebanon. These trees form a little grove
by themselves, as if planted by art, and are seated in a hollow, amid rocky eminences all
round them, at the foot of the ridge which forms the highest peak of Lebanon. There
are, I should think, at present, about 200 in number, all fresh and green. They look,
on approaching them, like a grove of firs ; but, on coming nearer, arc found to bo in
general much larger, though the foliage still keeps its resemblance. Tlicrc are about
twenty that are very large, and, among them, several from ten to twelve feet iu diameter
at the trunk, with branches of a corresponding size, each of them like large trees
extending outward from the parent stock, and overshadowing a considerable space of
ground.” (Travels among the Arab Tribes, p. 475.)
731. Asiatic cemeteries are ahnost always without the walls of tho towns, and are
iflantcd with fine trees, generally cypresses. The custom of strewing tlic gi-aves ivith
flowers and aromatic shrubs, or planting them neai- the tombs, is also nearly universal.
732. The cemetery at Damascus is very extensive. The tombs are formed with great
care, and are finished with extraordinary neatness. A t the foot of each grave is enclosed
a small earthen vessel, in which is planted a sprig of myi-tle, regularly watered every day
by the friends of the deceased. Buckingham saw twenty or thirty females watering the
myrtles, and strewing flowers on the graves. (Travels among the Arab Tribes, p. 316.)
733. The cemeteries o f Tarabolus are nearly as extensive as tliose of Damascus,
though the population of the town does not exceed 10,000. The tombs are handsomer
than those at Damascus, and more in the true Turkish style of Constantinople and
Smy rn a: all are daily fm-nished with myrtle, freshly watered, and visited and strewed
with flowers by the female relatives and friends. (Ibid., p. 463.)
734. Gardening in Asia Minor, ^c., as an art o f culture, appears to have attained
considerable eminence from an early period. The largest buncli of grapes which we
read of in history (Num. xiii. 23.) was raised in that cou n try ; and the figs o f Smyrna
have been celebrated from time immemorial. Pliny says that the Syrians were excellent
gardeners, and took such pains, and were so ingenious in cultivating their grounds, as to
give rise to a Greek proverb to that effect. (Nat. H is t, b. xx. c. 51.) “ The gardens,”
says Buckingham, “ that siuTound the city of Damascus o'n the north, the fine olive-
grounds and long avenues of trees to the south, the numerous villages on the east, and
the great subiu-b of Sallieyah, with the thi-onged public way that leads to it, on the west,
added to the sombre but rich and thickly planted cypresses, the slender pojflai-p, the corn
grounds, and the rivers and streams which so abundantly water the whole, give to this
charming spot a chai-acter becoming a scene in fairy-land.” (Travels among the Arab
Tribes, p. 305.) In the neighbourhood of Damascus is a plain celebrated for its roses,
which ai-e there cultivated extensively for the purpose of producing tarts, cakes, aud the
celebrated attar (oil) of roses. This plain forms part of the great plain of Syi-ia: it is
about three miles from Damascus, and its entire ai-ea is thickly planted with rose trees,
whicli are cultivated and irrigated with gi-eat care. A writer in the New Monthly
Magazine (No. Ixxix. p. 434.) obsen'es, that one of the best tarts he ever tasted was
composed of nothing but rose-leaves, and that no conserves are so exquisite as those
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