GARDEN. The earliest known gardens are those of Solomon, which are described as having been of quadrangular form, surrounded by high walls. They contained aviaries, wells and streams of water. The gardens of Cyrus and other Persian monarchs were of great ex tent, and generally laid out in romantic situa tions. They were also distinguished for the great diversity of their uses and products. The first allusion to terraces in gardens is to be found in the description of the celebrated hang ing gardens of Babylon, anciently reckoned among the wonders of the world. Their con struction is variously ascribed to Queen Semi ramis and to Nebuchadnezzar. Diodorus and Strabo have given descriptions of them. They are said to have formed a square with an area of nearly four acres, and rose in terraces, sup ported on masonry arches, to. a height of 75 feet. They were irrigated from a reservoir built at the top, to which water was lifted from the Euphrates by a screw. Fountains and banqueting-rooms were distributed throughout the numerous terraces; groves and avenues of trees, as well as parterres of flowers, diversified the scene; while the view of the city and neigh borhood was extensive and magnificent. Most .of the elements of a modern architectural garden are alluded to in connection with those of Babylon. The grove of Orontes, described by Strabo, must be regarded as a park or large garden in the picturesque style; it was nine miles in circumference.
In ancient Greece, gardening was rather a neglected art at first, but in process of time great advance was made. The vale of Tempe, the Academus at Athens, and other public gardens were extremely elegant and were orna mented with temples, altars, tombs, statues, monuments and towers. The Greeks copied their gardening from the Persians; and the Romans, in their turn, copied that of the Greeks. Little is known of the early style of Roman gar dening; the vast edifices projecting into the sea, and the immense artificial elevations, are appar ently ridiculed by Cicero and Varro. About this time, however, began the cultivation of odoriferous trees and plants; and the planting of trees adjoining each other, whose odors as similated, was then as much a study with the gardener as the harmonious blending of colors at the present day.
The early French and Dutch gardens were evidently adopted from the description of Pliny's garden. The use of glass in the con struction of conservatories was early known to the Greeks and Romans; and the °Gardens of Adonis,° mentioned by some of their most eminent authors, were probably of this kind. Gardening, like all the other arts, languished during the Dark Ages, but with the revival of learning, the invention of printing, and the Reformation, it began again to flourish. The art was revived and patronized by the family of the Medici in Italy; and their gardens, which were of the geometric and architectural style, long served as models for most of Europe. They continued to be imitated in France, Ger many and Great Britain till the introduction of the English or natural style. In garden archi tecture very little progress, as far as hothouses are concerned, has been made in southern Europe, the warmth of the climate rendering them all but useless. There are, however, plant houses in many places in Spain and Portugal The French and Dutch gardens resemble each other closely; symmetry and profuse ornament are the characteristics of both. The Dutch style is eminently adapted to the nature of the country, where there are no inequalities of sur face, as in England. The French style seems to have arisen about the middle of the 17th century, during the reign of Louis XIV. The most celebrated gardener of the period was Le Notre who laid out the famous gardens of Versailles. Le Notre's style spread rapidly into other countries. The first erection of hot houses in France took place toward the end of the reign of Louis XIV by M. Fagon, in the Jardin des Plantes. The first magnificent at tempt at hothouse building was that of Francis I, of Austria, in 1753. They were in five ranges, extending altogether to the length of 1,290 feet, many of them being 30 feet high. From about 1760 landscape gardening, and the adoption of the English style, rapidly spread into France, Germany and Russia, where it still prevails.
See CITY PLANNING; FLOATING ISLAND; FLORI CULTURE; FLOWERS; GARDEN CITIES; GREEN HOUSE ; HORTICULTURE; CROSS-FERTILIZATION ; PLANT BREEDING, ETC.