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JOUENAL OF HORTICDLTURE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEK. 



[ October 23, 1873. 



pleaeures ■which he might otherwise enjoy. But because many 

 persons have ridden the bedding-out mania too far, it is no 

 reason why we should go to the opposite extreme and have 

 perpetual monotony with the repetition of the same sort of 

 flowers, mixed without any reference to harmony of colour 

 or contrast of form. Aud at the risk of repeating what I 

 have, I think, before said in your columns, I do not see why a 

 formal geometrical spring garden made of Daisies, and Violas, 

 Polyanthus, &c., should be admired, while the same garden 

 filled with much choicer and much more lasting summer 

 bedding-out plants should be considered as meretricious. 



This, however, is somewhat of a digression called forth by 

 the want of design and skill manifested by the French gar- 

 deners both at the Tnileries, Luxembourg, Versailles, aud else- 

 where. It is well known that a good lawn is a thing almost 

 unknown in France, aud its absence is generally ascribed to 

 the climate ; but when they have the means of irrigating, if 

 only they would use an American machine and cut oftener, 

 scattering the grass instead of collecting it, I am convinced 

 that their lawns would soon improve. If we were to leave an 

 EngUsh lawn for ten days, or even three weeks, as is some- 

 times the case abroad, uncut, we should not have much to boast 

 of about our English lawns. 



There is one thing the Parisians certainly beat us in — the 

 selection of their trees for the Boulevards, Ac, and their 

 manner of pruning them, nearly every tree having a clean 

 straight stem, properly trained and judiciously pruned, and 

 the Boulevai-ds in Paris are certainly a great feature. But the 

 manner in which the trees are planted iu some places is un- 

 interesting in the extreme, representing a forest of bare poles 

 with foliage only on the top. Take, for instance, the trees on 

 the north-east side of the Luxembourg gardens, or on each 

 side of the wide avenue from the Place de I'Etoile to the Tuil- 

 eries ; they are planted in rows so near together and so closely 

 in the row that there is no room for them ever to grow to 

 make good trees, nor can anything in the shape of grass or 

 shrub grow underneath ; the consequence is, there is nothing 

 but bare earth or gravel under the trees, and uninteresting 

 lines of bare poles, with shade overhead. If the central 

 avenues were left, more than half the other trees cut down, 

 aiid the remainder left in groups, fenced round for a time 

 with shrubs, and a number of evergreens planted among them, 

 much of this painful monotony of bare earth might be done 

 away with. 



Another thing I may also allude to. I was under an im- 

 pression from what I had heard that I should find fruit re- 

 markably cheap and good. This certainly was not my expe- 

 rience. Peaches were to be had in tolerable abundance, but 

 the best at the fruiterers were a franc a-piece. Inferior ones 

 mjght be had at the Halles Centrales at prices varying from 

 15 to 35 centimes. Good Pears were very little, if any , cheaper 

 than in England, and I saw no Pears under 15 centimes, or 

 lUl. ; there were hardly any Nectarines ; the best fruit, and 

 cheapest on the whole, were the Figs. Grapes were beginning 

 to be plentiful, but they were not inviting to look at, and I 

 did not try them ; but such a thing as a good bunch of hot- 

 house Grapes, as Hamburghs or Muscats, was scarcely to be 

 Eeea. 



With regard to the vegetables in the Halles Centrales, per- 

 haps the most noticeable feature was the Endives, which seem 

 to take the place of our Lettuces, and in which the French 

 certainly succeed better than we do. Their Onions were also 

 fine aud their common Melons ; but in no other respects could 

 I find that their vegetables were superior to ours, and certainly 

 not their manner of cooking them. 



On the whole, I am afraid your readers will think that I 

 have looked on Paris gardening with a rather John Bull's eye, 

 and I certainly must confess I came back very sure of one 

 thing — that our English public parks, as Hyde Park, Eegent's 

 Park, and Battersea Park, were decidedly far superior to any- 

 thing that I saw in Paris ; aud as far as I can see, our English 

 and Scotch gardeners have not much to learn either from 

 the taste or skill displayed by French gardeners. I should 

 like some of our best gardeners to have free scope given them 

 in the Eois de Boulogne, the gardens of the Tuileries, and 

 elsewhere, and I should be surprised if there were not very 

 Boon a manifest alteration for the better. There are several 

 plants, indeed, used by the French, as the Cosmos, both white 

 and yellow, the Tamarisk, Ailantus, Eobinia, Stenactis spe- 

 ciosa, and others which might be tried, I think, with advan- 

 tage with us ; and if we were also to take a leaf out of their 

 look with respect to the management of trees in avenues, and 



the proper sorts to plant iu the streets, we should be the 

 gainers.— C. P. Peach. 



WINTER FLOWEE GAEDENING.— No. 3. 

 In addition to the shrubs named in my last paper as suit- 

 able for town gardens, there are others available for the or- 

 namentation of flower beds in the winter months, but which 

 do not succeed in town gardens. All those previously named, 

 as well as those to follow, will flourish in the country, or 

 where they are not exposed to the smoke and dust of our 

 manufacturing towns. 



Cri/jjiomeria clfijaiis.~Oi graceful pendant habit, and yet 

 pyramidal or cone-shaped, wide at the base aud rounded at 

 the top, owing to its drooping habit. The foliage iu autumn 

 aud through the winter is of a chocolate hue, brighter, deeper, 

 and far more decided in colour than any shrub I know, not 

 excepting the Eetinosporas. A bed of this may be margined 

 with Euonymus radicans variegatus, or if the plants are over 

 2 feet high, then margin the Cryptomeria with Osmanthus 

 ilicifolius variegatus nanus. The plants lift very well if annual 

 removal is practised, so as to induce the formation of roots 

 near the stem, and fibres to keep the soil in a ball. If not 

 lifted annually the roots spread out considerably, and there is 

 then risk in removing them; therefore, it is necessary to com- 

 mence transplanting these and other plants at an early age. 

 Plants 1 foot high and well furnished are suitable for small 

 beds, aud for margins to beds of the Silver tree lyy, and SUver- 

 variegated Holly. 



Btixtis aurea pcndula. — Yellow-margined leaves with the 

 centre green. This is the golden- variegated, branching, or 

 pendant-habited tree Box, which is useful for lines and mar- 

 gins, as also small beds, though not very bright in colour. 



Buxus nova argevtea marginata has silver-margined leaves, 

 and is also desirable for margins, lines, and small beds. 



The Boxes lift with excellent balls, aud in spring, after they 

 have done service in the flower garden, should be cut-in to the 

 form and height required, but owing to the frequent removal 

 they will not grow very luxuriantly. 



Junijicnis UimariscifoUa clothes the ground with the finest 

 possible green covering, forming an admirable edging to every 

 kind of shrub with bolder foliage and brighter hues of colour. 

 It moves well if the plants are annually transplanted. 



TliKJa aurea. — This is of very close and compact growth, 

 forming very ornamental globular heads of a bright green 

 tipped with brown, which early in spring assume a bright 

 golden hue. It is useful in many ways for winter gardening, 

 forming fine lines and bands. In beds it mav be edged with 

 any of the Hepaticas, Winter Aconite, Scilla" sibirica. Snow- 

 drops, or Crocuses of the blue, purple, and white shades of 

 colour, and is the best possible shrub from its symmetry of 

 form for associating with low-growing, spriug-flowering plants, 

 breaking the angles of flat surfaces, and otherwise relieving 

 and freeing them of a fatiguing monotony. Plants only a few 

 inches in height are quite as effective for lines or margins as 

 larger plants are for centres and masses. 



Thuja pygma-a.—A very dwarf subject, as its name impUes, 

 bright green tipped with brown, and one of the finest of shrubs 

 for a permanent second line to a border or bed, the outer Une 

 or margin bemg Arabis alpiua variegata argentea, or Cerastium 

 tomentosum. For small beds by itself it is also admirably 

 adapted, as well as for surrounding the Silver Tew, the margin 

 being blue, red, and white Hepaticas, a hue of each in the 

 order named. 



Thuja elegaiitissiiita. — An upright or pyramidal form of 

 T. aurea, having clear golden tips not only in spring but in 

 autumn. It is now beautiful. It may be employed in the same 

 way as T. aurea, bearing in mind that it is of upright habit. 

 The Thujas remove well, but should be Hfted annually. 

 O^mantli'is ilicifolius rariegalus nanus. — Bold Holly-Hke 

 foliage, with broad white or silver variegation. Very effective, 

 but will not succeed in exposed positions. It is good for 

 sheltered spots, but in open situations the Silver-leaved Holly 

 should be substituted for it. 



Hollies. — Gold and silver-variegated or blotched, as also 

 green-leaved kinds m various forms and degrees of colouring, 

 are good. They can be grown as flat-topped bushes only a 

 few inches high for margins, or with round or pyramidal heads 

 of almost any height. The Hollies can be removed with as 

 great a certainty of success as any other shrub, only for tho 

 purpose in view they must be lifted frequently from the com- 

 mencement of their preparatory growth or training. The 



