HISTOKY OF GARDENING. P a b t I
drouffht aiul misery without water.” The elements of agriculture, he p y s , are the same
1 th oZ i r h Z I r i c D - Z i c r , earth, air, and the sun. Agriculture is a necessary and
Z Z Z a l Z T s a science 4 iich teaches what is to be planted and done m every sod,
£ d w Z iT n d f yield the greatest profit. I t should aim at utihty aud pleasure, by prolucky
and nnlueky days, as d.erffied h^
Hesiod Some things Varrò observes, are to be done m the flekls while the moon is
increasing ; others, on tho contrary, when she is decreasing i “! t o Z o Z t
„ndpi-woM A t the change of the moon, puU your beans before d ay h g h t, to piovent
rats and mice from preying on a vineyard, prune the vines m the night-time : sow vetches
b Z r t h r tw e m v f i f t Z y of the moon, &c. “ I observe these things/’ says Agrasius,
Z t of flftraS h o rs who Z r o says had widtten on F ® * ’ “ - X S Z e o r e
now lost,) “ not only in shcaiing my sheep, out in cutting my hair ; for I might become
aU ofth e euMvator. Columella says
th a t iiusba:ndmen who are more religious than f ^ r l Z S ' a S
that thoT may srow both for themselves, and for their neighhoms. I f catcipillars attack
him D e Z Z S n i ih -m s that a woman going with her hair loose, and barefooted, three
times’ round each bed will kill them. Women must be rarely admitted wtare c u c™ te s
or gourds are planted for, commonly, green things languish, and are chocked in
®®®“ “ ignorant. I t was a doetrme
held hy V irlil, Columella, and Pliny, that any scion may he grafted on any stock ; and
that the scion partaldng of the nature of the stock, had its fruit changed in flavour aceord-
7 y S S y Z n tio n s ^ h o effect of gi-afting the vine on tho elm, and of
shlot through tho trunk of a chestnut ; but modem experience proves that no feith is to
he given to such doctrines, even though some of these authors affinn that they have seen
was heUeved in. Some barren trees and f nbs “ the
Doplar willow osier, and broom, were thojigbt to grow spontaneously ; others by
fortuitous seeds, as the chestnut and oak ; some from the roots of other sorts o |tje e s as
the cherry elm, bay, &c. Notwithstanding the ignorance and inaccuracy which then
s l l m S b e t i f t , the Romans were aware of all our common and some of our uncommon
nractices • they propagated plants as we do ; pruned and thinned, wateied, forced,
and ’rZ - d c d féuits and blossoms, and even made incisions, and ringed trees, to induce
garden implements o f the Romans, were the Ugo or pala, answering to our
snade- the rosirum a rak e ; the sarculum, a hoe or weeding hook ; the m om , a hoe
Z t to c k - the dolabra, an adze, apparently tho binetle of the Fren ch ; the secuns, an
axe; and’ th e /a ir , a kind of pruningYnife ; the latter was sometmes made m tlieshape
of the half-formed moon, hence fa lx scmiformts luna;. (Col, hb. ii. cap. 2. , lib. v.
practical directions for garden culture given by the Roman affihors are in
general cxedlent ; and the remark is still more apphcable in agricnltiire than in lioi ti-
L ltu re Cato gives minute directions for cultivating the aspai-aps ; and Ih iiy and
Columella treat at length on graftmg and inoculating, on prumng tho m ie imd olive, and
Z s S g S o sod L o n g L i t L e s generally. Pliny informs us that the success r f
one cultivator C Fiirins Cresinus, was so great, th a t ho was accused befoie the son^e
of practising ’magic, and was obliged to justify Mmself hy the erinhition of ‘
exclaiming as h i displayed them, “ these arc tho implements of magic which I use ,
but I cannot show yon the cares, the toils, and the anxious tìionghts that “ ““P )
day and night.” (See Owen’s Translation o f Cato, and o f Geoponica, or Agricultural
^ “s T '^ h e r e is no Roman author exclusively on gardening, hut the subject is treated of,
more or less, by Cato, Varrò, Virgil, Pliny, and Columella.
a a a S ? H » » i S 2 » i » s a » ì a a
most of his time in Italy.
B o o k I. EUROPEAN GARDENING, FROM A. D. 5 0 0 TO A .D . 1 8 3 2 . 25
ClIAF. HI.
Clmiological History o f Gardening in continental Europe, from the Tone ofth e Romans to
the present Day, or from a . d . 5 0 0 to A.D. 1 8 3 2 .
85. The decline o f the Roman Empire commenced with the reign of the emperors
111 the ages, Hirschfeld observes, which followed the faU of tlie republic, the violence
committed by several of the emperors, the invasion of the baxbai-ians, and the ferocity
introduced by the troubles of the times, extinguished a taste for a country life in proportion
as they destroyed the means of enjoying it. So many injuries faUiiig’ on tho
best provinces of the Roman empire, one after another, gi-adually destroyed the country-
houses and gai'dens. Barbarism triumphed over man and the arts ; arms again became
the reigning occupation; superstition allied itself to warhkc inclinations, and spread
over Europe a manner of thinking far removed from the noble simplicity of nature.
Tlie mixtui-e of so many different nations in Italy contributed to corrupt the ta ste ;
the possessions of the nobles, remaining without defence, were pillaged and razed • and
the earth was only cultii'ated fr-om necessity. Soon afterwards those were considered
the first countries where one convent raised itself beside another. Architecture -w^as
only employed in chapels and chm'chcs, or on warlike forts and castles. Ei-om the
estabhshment of the ecclesiastical government of the popes in the eighth, to the end of
the twelfth century, the monks were almost the only class in Europe who occupied
themselves m agriculture; many of these, earned away by their zeal, fled from tlie corruption
of the age, and striving to overcome their passions, or to indulge their gloomy
hmnour, or, as Herder observes, to substitute one passion for another, retired into solitary
deserts, unliealthy valleys, forests, and mountains; there they laboured with their
own hands, and rendered fertile, lands, till then, baiTen from neglect, or iu a state of
natural rudeness.
86. Thus the arts o f culture were preserved h j die monks during the dark ages. The
sovereigns, m procuring pardon of their sins by bestowing on the monks extensive tracts
of country and slaves, recompensed their activity as riu-al improvers. The monks of
St. Basil and St. Benedict, Harte informs us, rendered many tracts fertile in Italy
Spain, and the south of France, which had lain neglected ever since the first incursions
oi the Goths and Saracens. Others were equally active in Britain in ameliorating the soil
Prof. Walker {Essays) informs us that, even in the remote island of Iona, an extensive
establishment of monks was foi-med in the sixth cen tu ry ; and that the remains of a com-
mill and mill-dam, built by them, still ex is t; and indeed it is not too much to affirm, that,
without the architectural and nu-al labours of tliis class of men, many provinces of Europe
which at present nourish thousands of inhabitants, would have remained deserts or
marshes, the resorts only of wild beasts, and the seminaries of disease; and architecture
and gardening, as arts of design, instead of being very generally diffused, would have
been lost to the greater part of Europe.
87. A t length the dawn o f light appeared with the art o f printing, a . d . 1440. Commerce
began to flourish in Italy and Holland ; and the arts of peace to prevail. Soon
after this period tho European part of what was formerly the Roman empire gradually
assumed those political divisions, whicli it, for the greater part, still retains. We shall
take a cursory view of the progress of gardening in each of these states, from the dark
ages to tlie present day.
S e c t . I. O f the Revival, Progress, and present State o f Gardening in Italy.
88. The blessings o f peace and of commerce, the remains of ancient grandeur still
existing, and the liberty which some cities had acquired through the generosity and
splendour of some popes and princes, united with other causes in the revival o f the arts in
Italy, rather than in any other countiy. After a long coiu'se of prosperity, they may ho
now said to be on the decline; though they may revive to great political changes, and
the estabhshment of free and liberal institutions, moral, pohtical, and scientific.
S u b s e c t . l . Italian Gardening, in respect to Design and Taste.
89. The earliest notice o f Italian gardening is in the work of Pietro Crescenzi, a senator
of Bologna : entitled “ Opus Ruralium Commodornm, sive de Agricultura,” dedicated to
Charles II., king of Naples and Sicily. In the eighth hook of tliis work the author
treats of gardens of pleasure. These ho divides into three classes : those of persons of
g ia ll fortune ; those of persons in easy circumstances ; and those of princes and kings.
He teaches the mode of constructing and ornamenting e a ch ; and of the royal gardens
observes, that they ought to have a menagerie and an av ia ry ; the latter placed among
thickets, arbours, and vines. Each of the three classes, he says, ought to be decorated
with turf, shrubs, and aromatic flowers.