36 



JOURNAL OF IIOKTICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ Januaiy 11, 1873. 



% 



ill wiuter tubere and i-liizomes, such as those of Dahlias, 

 Caiinas, &c., taken up in autumn. They may also be used as 

 a workshop for the gardeners in severe frosts, and as gas will 

 shortly be laid on, they will be still better adapted for the 

 purpose. 



" Ou the other side of the railway are the trial ground and 

 glass houses. Whenever a now plant is announced it is pur- 

 chased at any price, and here tried, for the city of Paris will 

 not lag behind in the race of gardening progress. If the plant 

 is hardy it is grown on trial out of doors along with kindred 

 plants, and under different modes of culture, and after two 

 or three years' 

 experience it is 

 adopted or reject- 

 ed ; but it must 

 possess many good 

 qualities to de- 

 throne its rivals, 

 and be extensively 

 propagated. The 

 effect is here stu- 

 died, especially in 

 masses of one 

 species or variety, 

 rather than in he- 

 terogeneous assem- 

 blages of plants 

 ■without unity or 

 harmony. The trial 

 is all the more se- 

 vere, because long 

 experience has 

 taught mistrust of 

 the high-sounding, 

 often specious, de- 

 scriptions given by 

 dealers in novel- 

 ties. If the plant 

 is adopted it is 

 sent to Viucennes, 

 where it can be 

 propagated in such 

 niunbers, and over 

 an extent of 

 ground, that it 

 could not be at La 

 Muette. 



" The houses, 

 wliich have been 

 successively erect- 

 ed from 1858 to the 

 present time, are 

 not equalled in ex- 

 tent in any other 

 part of France. 

 They consist of 

 twenty-one ranges, 

 divided into sect- 

 ions according to 

 the mode of cultme 

 required by the dif- 

 ferent classes of 

 the plants, and 

 cover an area of 

 95,800 square feet. 

 The largest house 

 has an area of 

 18,222 square feet, 



is 31J feet in height in the centre, and is in three compart- 

 ments. The central one is filled with a splendid collection of 

 Camellias from 15 to 23 feet high, planted out, and several of 

 them once formed part of the celebrated collection of the 

 Empress Josephine at Mahnaisou. Of the two side divisions 

 one is devoted to the protection of those ornamental-foliaged 

 plants which have risen so much in favour during the last few 

 yeai's. There may be seen trees of Wigandia, Nicotiana wi- 

 gandioides, which is covered in winter with superb drooping 

 panicles of white flowers, Montagnsas, Polj-mnia, Araha papy- 

 ritera,"and many other handsome tropical plants. Tlie di\'ision 

 on the other side contains a number of large specimen Palms, 

 Paudanuses, and Cyoads, which are almost unrivalled. Among 

 them are magnificent examples of Sabal Blackburuiaua, Sea- 



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^f^'- 



.^ 



"S 



forthia, Pandanus, Phceuix.Thrinax, Livistonia, Zamia, Cycas, 

 Ceratozamia, etc., not to mention a numerous coDection of 

 novelties, in fine condition, aniountiug to upwards of 390 

 species. Another largo house, in three spans, holds the re- 

 mainder of the collection of large CameUias; these are in tubs, 

 and while those planted out afford a multitude of cut blooms, 

 these are used to decorate the apartments of the Hotel de 

 Ville at the great balls given by the Prefect of the Seine ; 

 indeed, all the large stove and greenhouse ijlants are princi- 

 pally grown for this pui'pose. Ordinary greenhouse plants, 

 such as Azaleas, Acacias, Epacrises, Heaths, &c., are gi-owu 



along with the Ca- 

 mellias, and receive 

 much the same 

 treatment as re- 

 gards culture. 



"A square pavi- 

 hon, filled with 

 very tall Palms, 

 Draca;nas, Ficus, 

 Aralia, &c., forms 

 a vestibule to a 

 high lean-to con- 

 taining a collection 

 of no less than 110 

 species of Fieus. 

 Ficus elastica 

 (Urostigma elasti- 

 cum), or the In- 

 diani'ubber tree, 

 takes up the great- 

 est amount of room , 

 although there are 

 some other species 

 of nearly equal 

 merit for beds of 

 peat soil out of 

 doors in summer. 



" Fiu'ther on, in 

 sections according 

 to the description 

 of plants grown in 

 them, are large and 

 fine houses devoted 

 to Dracaenas, to 

 Aroids,to Ferns, to 

 lai'ge-leaved Sola- 

 nums, to Begonias, 

 to Musas, to Hibis- 

 cus, to Pelargo- 

 nium grandiflorum , 

 to lai'ge Caladiums, 

 &c. Lastly, other 

 two houses deserve 

 special mention ; 

 these ai-e the pro- 

 pagating-house 

 and that which 

 goes by the name 

 of the ' serre de 

 sevrage.' 



" The propagat- 

 ing-house is em- 

 ployed for the rapid 

 propagation of all 

 those hothouse and 

 hardy plants that 

 do not strike readily 

 in frames, and the appUances are such as are nowhere else to 

 be seen. It is impossible, however, to convey a clear idea of the 

 arrangements from mere description ; suffice it, therefore, to 

 say that there are shelves all round, and, besides, two bark beds, 

 in the interior of which shelves rise in gi'adation like the steps 

 of a stair, and under these run the hot-water pipes enclosed 

 by sheets of iron. The pipes, sixteen in number, are 4j inches 

 in diameter, and run all round the house. Being thus con- 

 fined mthin the pit they maintain the heat of the tan in which 

 the pots are plunged, and afford that degree of bottom heat 

 wliich is so favourable to the emission of roots. The step-Uke 

 arrangement of the shelves covered with tan, ou which bell- 

 glasses are placed, allows of the young plants being kept very 

 close to the glass. Sis young gardeners are employed Jhrough- 







eiU'opiea puujuia. 



