THE FLORAL WOrLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



267 



■within the very verge of the Cit^- of Lon- 

 don there are spaces wliioh n-!lq;ht be 

 similarly planted. But in Paris is heintj 

 accomplisiied one of tlie noblest acts of 

 amelioration, in the formation of squares 

 and gardens in the districts that are chiefly 

 inhabited by the poorer classes. This is 

 done for the double purpose of affording a 

 relief from the monotony of City life to 

 persons wliose means are not sufficient to 

 enable them to reach the Tiiileries, the 

 Luxembourg, or the Bois de Boulogne ; 

 and also to purify the atmosphere, on 

 which such heavy demands are made by 

 the dense masses of breathing humanity. 

 In London the best trees, squares, and gar- 

 dens are to be found in the districts tenanted 

 chiefly by the rich. Fashion hovers about 

 the parks, the wealthy practitioners of the 

 learned professions take possession of the 

 squares and the inns, -where gardening is 

 considered one of the essentials of exist- 

 ence ; but in the districts inhabited chiefly 

 by the poor, you may travel till footsore 

 without being once refreshed by the sight 

 of a tree, " .shaking its million leaflets in 

 the sun," or a patch of turf on which the 

 shadow of the tree may ftiU without being 

 marred in its beauty. But in the best 

 view of the matter there is a large residue 

 of dilapidated squares " so paltry that they 

 might be said to have heen blown there by 

 the wind ;" and, for the sake of a f-iw 

 pounds' expenditure, first-class properties 

 are allowed to degenerate, which, with the 

 help of a little gardening, might be kept 

 at their proper value as places of retire- 

 ment, congenial to classes removed out of 

 the ordinary bustle of trade and commerce. 

 Give us more trees, and the spaces on which 

 they are planted will he preserved from 

 the invasions of the builder ; we shall thus 

 obtain more light and more air, and the air 

 will be more wholesome, because pui-ified 

 of smoke, dusf, carbonic acid, and the 

 fumes of sulphur. But why are our few 

 squares so hermetically sealed against the 

 populace ? Why are the poor, who cannot 

 afl^ord the price of a railway-ticket or the 

 time for a journey, shut out from these 

 accessible places of recreation? They are 

 private property, and we have not yet got 

 so far in popular ethics as to recognize the 

 true relationships of private property to 

 the public weal, else we should see poor 

 mothers leading their children along the 

 walks of squares and gardens, in the inno- 

 cent enjoyment of the. best substitute for 

 Nature which Art cm produce in the 

 naidst of a city. In Paris, the Government 

 h.is shown a paternal regard for the happi- 

 nsss of the citizens, whatever may bs said 

 a» to its political policy. There is the 



; ] uare of St. Jacques-de-la-Boucherie, ou 

 which two million francs have been ex- 

 panded, open to all. Public promenades 

 are being established, and Paris is be- 

 coming not so much a city of gardens, as 

 one great garden, with a city scattered 

 through it. 



_ Nor is it true that the conditions re- 

 quisite to the growth of trees in London no 

 longer exist. There are already a suffi- 

 cient number of healthy, handsome speci- 

 mens to prove that at least some species 

 are capable of enduring the manifold evils 

 of City life, to the same extent that human 

 beings get inured to smoke, dust, and per- 

 petual twilight. The Platanus acerifolia, 

 and its several handsome varieties, are un- 

 surpassed for beauty ; if we had our choice 

 of all the trees in the British Sylva, we 

 CDuld have nothing better than that for 

 majesty of outline, richness of foliage, and 

 capability of resisting influences which 

 would annihilate many other species. The 

 poplar, lime, horse-chesnut, maple, haw- 

 thorn, ash, robinia, syringe, catalpa, Pau- 

 lownia, are all, more or less, adapted for 

 planting in the City — the smoke will not 

 kill one of them. The majority of the in- 

 closures where they might he planted are 

 neither over-drained nor poisoned with 

 gas-pipes, and though the soil may be 

 stale, and sour, and pasty, a judicious 

 application of manual labour would soon 

 bring it into a condition suitable for 

 planting ; so that we might have verdure 

 and umbrage, if we could not hope for 

 flowery paradises. In tlie selection of spe- 

 cies and varieties, those who have had the 

 least experience in City gardening may 

 fall back on a rule to guide them in the 

 lack of experience ; and the rule is, that 

 trees with hard shiny, leathery leaves, are 

 the best for this purpose, and those with 

 soft, porous, absorbent, or woolly leaves, 

 the worst. Thus it happens, that many of 

 the most beautiful evergreens thrive in 

 the closest and smokiest districts, because 

 their hard polished leaves resist the efl'ects 

 of soot and dirt, every shower washes them 

 clean, and all through the dreary winter 

 they cheer the eye with a glimpse of green- 

 ness, and remind us that it is not winter 

 all the year round, and that the world is 

 not yet wholly covered with brick and 

 stone buildings. That most beautiful of all 

 our hardy evergreens, the phillvrea, is as 

 patient under smoke as an old mill-horse is 

 under the constant temptation to giddiness. 

 It grows slowly, requires no pruning, is 

 always bright and cheerful, and may take 

 the place with us of the paternal laurels 

 that adorned the inner courts of patrician 

 R)min houieholds. The aucuba, Berberia 



