Arab gardening in Spain

497. The Arabs of Spain attended to agriculture, and translated and commented on the ancient authors. Though they occupied themselves more particularly in the study of medicine and botany, they did not neglect the culture of gardens. Many of them travelled to their brethren in Asia, to pursue natural history, and bring plants to Europe. Ibn-Alwan has left us a list of plants in the garden of Seville, in the eleventh century, which are more numerous than those which were cultivated by the Greeks and Romans.