Brief History of Gardens.
According to the old Bible story, the race of mankind began its existence in a garden. “And the LORD GOD”, it says, “planted a garden eastward, in Eden’ and there He put the man HE had formed…. To dress it and keep it.” This first God-planted garden has been called Paradise; and Milton called his great epic poem, describing how man lost his innocence and his beautiful garden, “Paradise Lost”.
Whatever we may think of this old story, it is certain that men have loved gardens and gardening from the earliest times. The paintings on their tombs prove that ancient Egyptians planted and loved beautiful gardens. Withered wreaths of flowers grown in their gardens have been found in Egyptian tombs, placed on the mummies by loving hands thousands of years ago. The hanging gardens of Babylon, made and planted by Nebuchadnezzar, are famous in ancient history.
The ancient Greeks had their gardens and sang of the Garden of the Hesperides, where the trees bore golden apples and were guarded by the unsleeping dragon. The nobles of ancient Rome surrounded their country villas with well-laid gardens, vineyards, and olive yards.
Persia was famous for its gardens of roses and aromatic trees; and in India, the Moguls, who were great garden lovers, made and planted such famous gardens as Shalimar and Nishat Bagh in Kashmir and Shalimar in Lahore.
The English too is a great garden lover, and almost every Englishman who has a plot of land about his house turns it into the garden. Gardening is a delightful hoppy and most interested hoppy.
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