FOREIGN NOTICES. 



41 



dard trees that I advise no other mode of cultiva- 

 tion. It should also be grown on pear roots. By 

 way of distinction, I have named it " The Late 

 Gansel;" and my gardener compared the flavor 

 of this pear with that of the Suffolk Thorn, and 

 my pear was found to be very superior. 



Horticulture in France. — A writer in the 

 Revue Horticole says there are 600,000 hectares* 

 of gardens and orchards in France. 



He estimates the mean value of the products of 

 these gardens (including nurserymen, florists and 

 hot-house growers) at 1,000 francs, making 600 

 millions of" francs ($120,000,000) as the annual 

 product of the horticulture of France. 



" If, " he continues, " we would estimate 

 the population engaged in cultivating this wide 

 spread area of gardens and orchards, we must 

 remember that at least one family is necessary 

 for the cultivation of a hectare. Our gardens, 

 without counting those which are only the lit- 

 tle yards of rural mansions, furnish labor to 

 and support 600,000 families, (say 500,000) or 

 2,500,000 souls; and this population is beyond 

 comparison, among all the working classes who 

 labor for towns, the most industrious, the most or- 

 derly, the most moral, and consequently the most 

 easy in their circumstances. That which most 

 tends to preserve this state of things is that, al- 

 most every where, the men leave to their wives 

 all the business with the towns, and thereby avoid 

 all loss of time and all temptation to bad habits. 

 The women often pass part of their nights going 

 to market, and having made their sales at dawn, 

 hasten back to their homes content with the mor- 

 sel of coarse bread that they carried with them. 

 This is by no means the case with the men, when 

 they make the same journey. They will not con- 

 fine themselves within the same limits of modera- 

 tion and frugality. 



"There is then no special culture, with the excep- 

 tion of that of the vine, which occupies so large a 

 portion of the population. The total product of 

 gardens is larger than that of the vine, though the 

 annual value of the latter, at the lowest calcula- 

 tion, cannot be placed under 500 millions of francs 

 ($100,000,000.) The vine gives employment to 

 five millions of population (or 1,000,000 of fami- 

 lies,) whilst the gardens employ 2,500,000. But 

 the five millions of vine dressers, or at least a 

 large part of them, give also a portion of their 

 time to other kinds of cultivation, necessary to the 

 support of their families ; whilst the market gar- 

 deners—men, women and children, devote their 

 whole days, and often part of the night, to the 

 culture, transportation, and sale of their products." 

 Revue Horticole. 



Arrangement of Flower Gardens — I con- 

 fess that I am sorry to find your correspondent 

 Mr. Cuthill, boldly attempting to advocate the re- 



* The hectare is a little more than 2 acres. 



Vol. iv. 5 



vival of, and to pass a eulogium on, the frittered 

 flower-gardening of past years, and I trust he will 

 not be offended by my taking the liberty of saying 

 (in all courtesy) that my view of the subject is 

 not consonant with his. The difference between 

 indiscriminate mixture and variety was not so well 

 understood a few years ago as it now is. I think 

 that the mixed flower border is the most apt illus- 

 tration of Mr. C.'s simile (the uniforms of the 

 Spanish Legion) " a thing of shreds and patches." 

 That great authority, Mr. Repton, speaking of 

 plantations where the trees are mixed in a regular 

 manner, says: " In the system of planting, all va- 

 riety is destroyed by excess of variety. For exam- 

 ple: if 10 different clumps be composed of 10 differ- 

 ent sorts of trees in each, they become so many 

 things exactly similar ; but if each clump consist of 

 the same sort of tree they become 10 different 

 things." This observation applies with equal 

 force to a mixed flower-garden. 



It must be admitted that the mode of filling the 

 flower beds of a mansion must be subservient to 

 the requirements and residence of the family in 

 the country; and it is now customary to pass the 

 delightful months of May and June in London, and 

 to resort to the country in July, at which time 

 what can be more beautiful than a terrace-garden 

 arranged in well contrasted masses of colour? In 

 such a garden we avow the principle of artistical 

 disposition ; it is an adjunct to the mansion, and 

 should bear the same impress of art and refine- 

 ment which the " elegantice formarum spectator" 

 would desire. In such a garden may be introduced 

 vases, sculptures and other works of design, which 

 would give a character and unity of expression to 

 the whole, while the Cypress would, by its ele- 

 gant form and associations and perpendicular di- 

 rection, beautifully contrast with the long horizon- 

 tal lines of balustrade. 



In the gradual progress of society there will be 

 found in general, a disposition to adopt old prac- 

 tices which are familiar to us. To advocate what 

 we have been long accustomed to, is perhaps na- 

 tural, but it is a privilege of man, as a reasonable 

 being, to think as to how far old usages are con- 

 sistent with a state of refined civilization, and, 

 availing myself of this, I will proceed to test the 

 rival modes of flower gardening by our advanced 

 standard. 



Ornamental flower gardens are in general pla- 

 ced as appendages to regular buildings, as man- 

 sions, conservatories, &c, and as such must be re- 

 garded as episodical works of art, forming a part 

 of the variety of the garden scenery, but consti- 

 tuting in themselves a perfect whole. To do this 

 there must be symmetry, congruity, and harmony 

 of the parts. Montesquieu says, " things which 

 we see in succession ought to have variety, for our 

 soul has no difficulty in seeing them; those, on the 

 contrary, that we see at one glance ought to have 

 symmetry." Upon this principle, and upon that 

 of producing a greater amount of variety, I prefer 

 the massed to the mingled flower garden, wherever 



