Pagina 421 de 2651

Columella, who reports this judgment of Democritus, does not

controvert it, but proposes a very frugal method of inclosing

with a hedge of brambles and briars, which he says he had found

by experience to be both a lasting and an impenetrable fence; but

which, it seems, was not commonly known in the time of

Democritus. Palladius adopts the opinion of Columella, which had

before been recommended by Varro. In the judgment of those

ancient improvers, the produce of a kitchen garden had, it seems,

been little more than sufficient to pay the extraordinary culture

and the expense of watering; for in countries so near the sun, it

was thought proper, in those times as in the present, to have the

command of a stream of water, which could be conducted to every

bed in the garden. Through the greater part of Europe, a kitchen

garden is not at present supposed to deserve a better inclosure

than that recommended by Columella.