To such imaginary descriptions as the above may partly be attributed the extravagant taste for grotesque garden structures of Eastern form, and for a confused variety of fanciful scenes, which gradually destroyed the naturalness of English landscape gardens. A demand for every kind of exotic plant and tree accompanied this fashion for the imitation of foreign and antique constructions. Gardening had its scientific as well as its artistic side, and advances in horticultural science led to the collection of botanical specimens from all parts of the globe. Tropical vegetation, which refused to flourish in a temperate climate, was enclosed in conservatories and reared by artificial heat, and the winter-garden became an essential adjunct of every gentleman's grounds.
