VII Gardening in the Ages of Antiquity, to Fruits, Culinary Productions, and Flowers
31.In the primeval state of society, before metals were discovered, or, at least, before the art of using them was invented, men must have lived principally on the vegetable productions of the earth; such as fruits, herbs, and roots. By experience, the different effects of these vegetable products on the body would be discovered, and man would learn the use of herbs in medicine. When men began to have settled habitations, the inconvenience of having to search for the plants which were so necessary, would lead to the collection of them in places near the dwelling; and as the spots of ground in which they were grown must have been fenced to preserve them from the depredations of animals, we can easily understand the origin of gardens.
