A dictionary of modern gardening - University Library

HOR 299 HOR
subject of planting and forest trees.
Those which furnish the best idea of
the state of culture in that country, are
Dietrich's Worterbuch. with the supplement
of 1820, and Sickler's Deutsche
Handwirtshaft. The Dutch excel more
in the practice than the literature of
gardening. They have no work of very
recent date ; that of Comelin, which
was published about the middle of the
17th century, is among the earliest;
and those of La Court and Van Osten
are said to be among the best that have
appeared. The Journal of a Horticultural
Tour in Holland and Flanders, by
a deputation of the Caledonian Horticultural
Society, gives the most satisfactory
account of gardening in that
part of the continent, in 1S17. The
TransactionsoftheStockholm and Upsal
academies furnish the chief information
which is to be obtained, in relation to ;
the rural economy of Sweden. The i
I
first author was Rudbeck, who was a
cotemporary of Commelin. Russia and
Poland have produced but very few
original books on horticulture. The
Agricultural Transactions occasionally
published by a society in Warsaw, with
those of the Economical Society of St.
Petersburg, may be considered as affording
the most accurate intelligence
as to the culture of those countries.
In the latter city is an extensive imperial
botanical garden, which being under the
direction of able professors, emulates
those of the more favoured portions of
southern Europe. The only recorded
source for obtaining any knowledge of
Spanish tillage, are the Transactions
of the Royal Agricultural Society of
Madrid. The horticultural literature
of France is of an early date, and the
authors are not only numerous, but
many of them in the highest repute.
Etienne and Belon were the pioneers,
while Du Hamel, Girardin, D'Argenville,
Rossier, Tessier,Calvel, Noisette,
Du Petit Thours, Jean and Gabriel
Thouin, Bosc and Vicomte Haricart de
Thury, may be considered as among
the most able of their followers, in the
various branches of rural economy.
For a general knowledge of French
culture, the Nouveau Cours d'Agriculture,
in thirteen volumes, published in
1810, should be consulted ; but the
most valuable publications on the existing
mode of gardening, are the monthly
Annales de la Socitti d^ Horticulture,
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the Annales de I'Institut Royal Jlorticole
de Framont, and the Bon Jardinier,
an annual publication compiled by professor
Poiteau and Vilmorin. The first
English treatise on rural economy was
Fitzherbert's Book of Husbandry, which
was published in 1C34. The works of
Tusser, George and Piatt soon after appeared,
and, early in the 18th century,
the celebrated treatise of Jethro Tull
excited much attention ; and several
new works of considerable merit were
announced before 1764, when the valuable
publications of Arthur Young,
Marshal, and numerous other authors,
spread a knowledge of cultivation, and
cherished a taste for rural improvements,
throughout Great Britain. The
literature of horticulture rapidly advanced
; but as many of the most eminent
writers have been named, in treat-
ing of the science and art of gardening,
it is unnecessary to mention them in
this place. The citizens of the United
States have been chiefly dependent on
England for books relating to agriculture
and gardening. Still several have
appeared by native writers, which are
highly creditable to the authors and the
country; especially those which relate
to the botanical department. Muhlenburg,
Bigelow, Eliot, Torry, Colden,
Bartram, Barton, Hosack, Mitchel, Darlington,
Ives, Dewey and Hitchcock,
are entitled to great praise for their
successful attempts to illustrate the
American flora. One of the earliest
writers on husbandry was Belgrove,
who published a treatise on husbandry,
in Boston, in 17.5.5; and in 1790
Deane's New England Farmer appeared;
but McMahon, Cox, Thacher, Adlam,
Prince, Buntly, Butler, Nicholson and
Fessenden, since the commencement
of the present century, have produced
works on the various cultures of the
United States, which are generally circulated,
and lield in great estimation.
The scientific relations of horticulture
are numerous, and require an extensive
acquaintance with the various branches
of natural history and physics. Botany,
mineralogy, chemistry, hydraulics,
architecture and mechanics must furnish
their several contributions, which it is
the province of the artist to apply.
After the illustrious Linnajus published
his system of Nature, botany became a
popular science, and a variety of interesting
elementary works awakened