1878.] 



AND HOR TICUL TURJS1\ 



189 



the everlasting Sycamore and Plane, beau- 

 tiful as in themselves they are. 



In another part of the city, up by the Bois de 

 Boulogne, are the gardens of the Acclimatisation 

 Society, which are well worth seeing, as it is 

 thought to be a model by many for imitation 

 here. It is a sort of stock affair; but is nearly 

 or quite self-sustaining by low admission fees, 

 50 centimes. It is really iiot much more than a 

 zoological garden. The '' Acclimations" we 

 fancy, do not go for nuich. \w .some particular 

 departments, the collections art- tolerably full. 

 Imagine a vineyard for " testing'' varieties, in 

 which were growing tifteen hundred and eighty- 

 four kinds of grapes I The large glass house 

 was prettily laid out with winding walks, rock- 

 eries, ferneries, and with most of the plants, such 

 as Camellias, Araucarias, Acacias, planted in the 

 open ground. It would no doubt be a charming 

 Winter garden ; but imagine a climate where a 

 large house like this needs no heating apparatus 

 and then do not wonder why we " do not see 

 such things so often in America ;" so with 

 the flower markets. People who go to Paris, 

 come back surprised at the lukevvarmness of the 

 American people, and large " flower markets as 

 in Paris," in all our large cilies are being con- 

 tinually urged. But it is not that Americans 

 are not as fond of flowers as the French, but 

 with our houses closed from the frost in AVinter, 

 and the sun in Summer, window and house 

 gardens, as we see in Paris, is impossible. 



I must, however, leave all the nice gardens and 

 parks, public and private, to take the readers to the 

 Jardiii desPlantes, before we say good-bye to this 

 fairyland. After a grasp of the hand of good old 

 Mons. Houllet, whose name in connection with 

 many new plants, the cultivator so well knows, I 

 was fortunate in finding in Mons. Neumann, assist- 

 ant Director, one of my early companions, who, 

 not like so many of whom I inquired in my 

 travels, had not yet gone to" theSpiritland." It 

 was a treat to him to have to scour up his ru-;ty 

 English, and me once more to hear my mother 

 tongue. The gardens are full of celebrated trees 

 — historical in tlieir botanical relations, accounts 

 of which are neatly painted and attached to 

 them. Here is a "Judas tree," 7 feet round, which 

 (he plate tells us was planted by Buftbn in 1775. 

 There is the flrst llobinia — our Yellow Locust — 

 nine feet two inches, round, " planted by .lean 

 Robin, in ICOl." Connected with the gardens 

 are museums of science, and in them rare horti- 

 cultural remains find a place. Here th"re is 



preserved a piece of the celebrated Beech tree 

 which lived six years after being completely gir- 

 dled, to the dismay of vegetable Physiologists, 

 who were sure it ought to have died within 

 twelve months after ; and then there is the trunk 

 of a Date Palm, sown in 1810, and died in 1872, 

 having in that time made a stem of nine feet 

 high. Many things, alas! died in 1872, for the 

 Siege of Paris was hard on the gardens. The 

 shells of the Germans had no respect for glass,and 

 the tenderest plant fell into the arms of the frost 

 king, as the whole city did into the arms of the 

 German emperor. Of course, the gardens,, 

 grounds, and museum buildings are not what, 

 they have been. Military troubles can do in a 

 day what it takes weeks to restore, but the 

 French government is doing a great deal to re- 

 vive the ancient glory of the gardens, and large 

 numbers of workmen were digging foundations 

 for new buildings and repairing the old ones. In 

 the Botanical department, large letters told 

 of the "llerbier Durand," the gift of the former 

 Philadelphia Botanist as a sign of his patriot t3 

 love for the land of his birth. Here Cflicased was 

 the chief work of a lifetime. I may be wrong, but I 

 have an impress-ion that it has been but little 

 used, and it led me to think whether it would 

 n t often be better to donate these scientific re- 

 mains to active workers, but whose means may 

 be limited, than to load down public institutions 

 which perhaps regard it as a favor to you to receive 

 them. I know of a Philadelphian who took this 

 view. lie wished before his death to ari'ange his 

 effects. IJis scientific material did go to a public 

 institution, but the books went to a worker. 

 There will_be little future "renown" perhaps, in 

 this ca.se to the benevolent Quaker who took 

 this course; but he has the satisfaction of know- 

 ing that his act is being made such use of now, 

 that thousands are being benefited by his good 

 deeds, when not a score perhaps would, had 

 his books been buried under the dust of some 

 public library. shelves. The arrangement of the 

 grounds is much more in view of Botanical sci- 

 ence than are those of many similar establish- 

 ments in England ; yet the many beautiful spec- 

 imens in the plant houses, the shaded avenues 

 o" Linden and other trees, the nicely ornamented 

 grounds in connection with the zoological de- 

 partment, make the gardens a very popular 

 place of resort. At the lime of mj' visit, the 

 houses were gay witii orchidese, and the aqua- 

 rium drew large numbers of visitoi-s by reason of 

 the blooming of a beautiful i-osc-color variety of 



