A VISIT TO THE JARDIN DES PLANTES. 



325 



little that he is permitted to see, is but to 

 convince him of his own ignorance, and the 

 minute detail and inconceivable vastness of 

 the creation. 



The Botanical Gallery is verj'' interesting, 

 and contains some 350,000 dried specimens. 

 Those from New-Holland, the Cape, India, 

 Egypt, &c,, are arranged by themselves ; 

 as are also those of Michaux, De CandoUe, 

 Humboldt, Tournefort and others. In one 

 part is a very large collection of every va- 

 riety of wood, with specimens of the roots, 

 bark, epidermis, &c. There is a large col- 

 lection of fruits preserved in spirits of wine, 

 and another of fruits from all climates in 

 wax and plaster : these last were well exe- 

 cuted and colored, and to us exceedingly 

 interesting. There is a large collection of 

 seeds, drugs, and fossil plants. The woods, 

 fruits and grains number some 4500 speci- 

 mens. 



Many of the specimens in these various 

 galleries have been collected during the 

 present century, but a large portion of them 

 existed previous to the Revolution. Amid 

 the insanity which then seemed to charac- 

 terise the French people, and their absolute 

 hatred of every thing bearing the scent of 

 royalty, it is somewhat remarkable that the 

 Jardin du Roi, as it was then called, should 

 have escaped destruction. The people wished 

 to have, however, entire control of it, but 

 were opposed by Bernardin de St.Pierre, 

 who was then director of the garden. To 

 their threats, he replied that it had been 

 confided to him by the King, and he would 

 be faithful to his trust. The people returned 

 that they were the rulers, and that nothing 

 should prevent their enjoying their own 

 trees, plucking their own flowers, eating 

 their own fruit, and roasting their own 

 pheasants and partridges. This was rea- 

 soning unanswerable; Bernardin de St. 

 Pierre replied by inviting the citizens of 



the faubourg to mount guard in the garden, 

 with musket and bayonet. To reward his 

 zeal, his office was suppressed, and he was 

 obliged to retire from the city. That he 

 escaped the guillotine, and the garden de- 

 struction, was surprising, but was owing, 

 doubtless, to one of those impulses of the 

 mob, which induced them to save the beau- 

 tiful lindens at Lyons. The story goes that 

 they were about cutting down these lindens, 

 when there appeared before the proconsuls 

 an old woman of the city, who stated to 

 these levellers, how, for the last fifty years, 

 she had daily walked under the shade of 

 those old trees ; that they had seen her 

 birthday, and she did not wish to see them 

 die. They listened favorably to the old 

 woman, and granted her petition, and thus 

 were saved some of the finest old lindens 

 that can be found in France. 



There were few things in our rambles 

 through Europe, that afforded us more plea- 

 sure than our visits to the Jardin desPlantes, 

 and promenades through its shaded ave- 

 nues, and among flowers from every climate. 



It is not only here that the French go- 

 vernment has shown its zeal for horticulture, 

 but it has also botanical and experimental 

 gardens at Montpelier, Toulon and Algiers, 

 to which plants from every quarter of the 

 world are sent for acclimatation. It may 

 safely be assumed that this plan is of in- 

 calculable benefit to their agricultural in- 

 dustry, and that similar establishments 

 would be of vast benefit to our own country, 

 extended as is its agriculture be3'ond that 

 of any other nation. 



We need here two large botanic gardens, 

 one at the North, and one in Florida. Into 

 the latter could be introduced all plants or 

 products that promise to be useful, and, after 

 being acclimated there, could, if their na- 

 ture would permit, be sent to the Northern 

 Garden, and by the side of other products 



