A dictionary of modern gardening - University Library

H OR 297 HOR
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sufficient quantity should be raised to ract of Syene to the shores of the Delta;
preserve in sand for winter supply. but it was when Thebes with its Imn-
Taking vp. — To take them up a dred brazen gates, and the cities of
trench is dug along the outside row Memphis and Ileliopolis, were rising
down to the bottom of the upright in magnificence, and her stupendous
roots, which, by some persons, when
the bed is continued in one place, are
pyramids, obelisks, and temples, became
the wonders of the world. The
cut off level to the original stool, and hills and plains of Palestine were ce-
the earth from the next row is then lebrated for beautiful gardens; but it
turned over them to the requisite depth ; was not until the walls and temple of
and so in rotation to the end of the
plantation. By this mode a bed wi
Jerusalem announced the power and
intelligence of the Israelites, and the
continue in perfection for five or six prophets had rebuked their luxury and
years ; after which a fresh plantation is extravagance. The queen of the East
usually necessary. But the best prac- " had heard of the fame of Solomon ;"
,
tice is to take the crop up entirely, and his fleets had brought him the gold of
Ophir, and the treasures of Asia and
, to form a plantation annually; for it
not only causes the roots to be finer, Africa ;
j the kings of Tyre and Arabia
but also affords the opportunity of were his tributaries, and princes his
changing the site. If this mode is fol- merchants, when he " made orchards,"
!
lowed care must be taken to raise every " delighted to dwell in gardens," and
lateral root; for almost the smallest of planted the " vineyard of Baalhaman."
them will vegetate, if left in the ground. The Assyrians had peopled the borders
;
\ HORSE-RADISH TREE. Moringa. of the Tigris and Euphrates, from the
HORSE-THISTLE. Cirsium. Persian gulf to the mountainous re-
HORTICULTURE (from hortus, gions of Ararat, and their monarchs had
garden, and colo, I till) includes in its founded Nineveh and Babylon, before
most extensive signification, the culti- we hear of the gardens of Semiramis.
j
ration of esculent vegetables, fruits and The Persian empire had extended from
I
ornamental plants, and the formation the Indus to the Archipelago, when the
and management of rural scenery for paradise of Sardis excited the astonish-
, the purposes of utility and embellish- ment of a Spartan general, and Cyrus
ment. The earliest effort of man to mustered the Grecian auxiliaries in
the spacious garden of Ceh-ena;. The
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emerge from a stale of barbarism was
directed to the tillage of the earth : (Ireeks had repulsed the invasions of
the first seed which he planted was the Darius and Xerxes, and Athens had
first act of civilization, and gardening reached the height of her glory, when
was the first step in the career of re- Cimon establisheJ the Academus, and
finemcnt ; but still it is an art in which presented it to his fellow citizens as a
he last reaches perfection. When the public garden. Numerous others were
savage exchanges the wild and wander- soon planted, and decorated with tem-
ing life of a warrior and hunter, for the
confined and peaceful pursuits of a
planter, the harvests, herds, and flocks
take the place of the simple garden.
The mechanic arts are next developed ;
then commerce commences, and manufactures
soon succeed. As wealth increases,
ambition manifests itself in
pies, porticoes, altars, statues and triumphal
monuments ; but this was during
the polished age of Pericles, when
;
,
;
Socrates and Plato taught philosophy
in the sacred groves ; wfien the theatre
was thronged to listen to the poetry of
Euripedes and Aristophanes; when the
genius of" Phidias was displayed in rear-
the splendor of apparel, of mansions
equipages and entertainments. Science,
ing the
statues
Parthenon and sculpturing the
of the gods; when eloquence
literature, and the fine arts are unfold- and painting had reached perfection,
ed, and a high degree of civilization is
attained. It is not until all this has
and history was illustrated by Herodotus,
Thucydides, and Xenophon. Rome had
taken place, that horticulture is culti- subjugated the world, and emulated
vated as one of the ornamental arts. Athens in literature, science, and the
Egypt, the cradle of civilization, so far
perfected her tillage, that the banks of
arts, w^hen the superb villas of Sallust,
Crassus, Pompey, Cffisar, Maecenas and
the Nile were adorned by a succession Agrippina were erected, and the paof
luxuriant plantations, from the cata- laces of the emperors were environed