December 16, 1869. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



471 



FRUIT-GROWING IN FRANCE AND 

 ENGLAND.— No. 2. 



T is an idea very commonly entertained, that 

 the French are much more " carpophagous " 

 than ourselves. The favourite idea of a 

 Frenchman used to be, and I fancy to some 

 extent now is, a lean, skinny human being, 

 who was for ever kicking about his spindly 

 shanks in dancing, who never ate anything 

 more substantial than a dish of frogs' legs. 

 and who was contented with merely an Apple 

 and a "petit pain," if in humble life; if 

 wealthy, that he lived on " unconsidered trifles light as 

 air," which were commonly called "kickshaws" [quelques 

 choses). Such was the " Johnny Crapaud " of our fore- 

 fathers ; while the French ideal of an Englishman — an 

 idea we helped to make permanent — was an obese bloated- 

 cheeked creature, who never could relish anytliing short of 

 a sirloin of beef, as underdone as possible, and of which 

 something under i or 3 lbs. would alone suffice to appease 

 his appetite, that to be washed down ^vith quarts of 

 "pahiil" or " portere." Such was, and, I believe, stOl is, 

 to many Frenchmen, John Bull. Need I say how absurd 

 all this is — that you may meet as many fat, pursy little men 

 on the Boulevards as in Regent Street — and that the little 

 fat man in the last " Punch," landed in a field, and apostro- 

 phising his steed as " Mister Timberjumper," gives by no 

 means an incorrect notion of him ? And as to fruit-eating, 

 I confess I cannot see, that with all the immense facililies 

 of the French, with a country stretching down to the far 

 south, and even to sunny Italy (since the cession of Nice), 

 they are greater fruit-eaters than ourselves. I am sure 

 the Halles Centrales do not contain each moniing anything 

 like the supplies that Covent Garden does ; the superior 

 fmits, such as Pines, hothouse Grapes, and forced Peaches, 

 are not to be seen : you can only see them in a few shops 

 in the Palais Royal and the best parts of Paris. They 

 have larger quantities of Melons and Figs, but then we 

 beat them hollow in Gooseberries, Currants, and small 

 fruit generally. You dine at a table d'hote, what fruit do 

 you see there '.' Generally a large dish of Calville Blanche 

 Apple — a, to my mind, very much overrated fruit, and not 

 for one moment to be compared with a Ribston Pippin or 

 a Nonpareil : to this is added a dish of Duchesse d'Angou- 

 leme or Beurre Diel Pears. These are taken off, a few 

 (in proportion to the number of guests) cut up, and about 

 one-eighth of each considered as a fair quantity. Drue in a 

 French house, and you will find the fruit at dessert bears 

 no sort of proportion to the other accessories, while ^\ith 

 us it is the main supply, other things being only acces- 

 sory thereto. I have no means of ascertaining the relative 

 proportions of fruit sent into London and Paris, but I am 

 incUned to think, from what one sees, even taking into 

 account the vast difference in size of the two cities, that 

 there is a great deal more consumed in our metropolis than 

 in Paris : for while in Covent Garden, in the early morn- 

 ing, you see it brought in iu huge waggon loads, you rarely 

 see at the Halles more than a light cart ; iu fact, I think 



No. 455.— Vol. XVn.,NEW Sebies. 



the quantity much less. Fruit puddings and tarts, which 

 form so usual an item in the fare of every family in this 

 country, are unknown almost in France, and I am strongly 

 of opinion that this idea of the French being so much more 

 fruit-eaters and less flesh- eaters than ourselves, must be 

 relegated to the same limbo of exploded notions as the 

 idea that every Frenchman is a thread paper, and every 

 second member of the community a dancing-master. 



And now as to climate. As I have previously remarked 

 in my notes on the vegetable culture of the two countries, 

 there have been broached more wild and ultra notions on 

 this important subject— important iu its bearing on vege- 

 table produce, but much more so in its bearing on fruit- 

 ripening. Some have stated that there is no manner of 

 difference, that the climate of Paris in no way differs from 

 ours, and that if it did, it would be iu our favour ; that the 

 winters are colder, and the summers hotter and drier than 

 our own ; and that to make this an excuse for not having 

 as good fruit as theirs, is merely the result of ignorance or 

 laziness. On the other hand, there are those who tell yon, 

 " Oh ! it is of no use talking of comparisons in fruit-grow- 

 ing. - See what a splendid climate they have ; what bril- 

 liant skies ; how free from those nasty spring frosts that 

 destroy our fond hopes of a fruit crop. Oh! of course, 

 theirs is a most favourable climate for fruit-growing ; no 

 wonder that they have such fine productions." All wrong 

 again ; in fact, as in a great many cases, truth lies midway 

 between these two extremes. There is a great similarity 

 in the climate of Paris and London, but yet with all that 

 there is a great dift'erence also ;■ the winters there are, no 

 doubt, colder than ours, the frosts more severe, and the early 

 spring frosts quite as treacherous : the Peach-growers of 

 Montreuil can no more dispense with their "paiUassons" 

 than we can with our curtains and other protectors. The 

 summers, too, are warmer, and it is in this that the great 

 advantage consists. There is, as I have once before said, 

 not more than 2° difl'erence, but then it is a diflerence not 

 of mere warmth, but of light and sun, and how much that 

 avails in fruit-ripening we all know. There are just one 

 or two simple facts that I would mention, as illustrating 

 this fact. It is very rarely tliat the Grapes do not ripen 

 in the open air in the neighbourhood of Paris, and that 

 not merely on walls, but on trellises and espaliers. How 

 often do our Grapes ripen even on walls '? the Chasselas 

 de Fontainebleau or Royal Muscadine being the kind most 

 generally grown there, not nearly so hardy as many Grapes 

 we see on cottage walls and outhouses in the south of Eng- 

 land. Again, the large Cantaloup Melon ripens in immense 

 I quantities in the open air about Paris, not exactly grown 

 there, for it is first grown in frames, and then the glasses 

 removed, and the fruit gi-own and ripened witliout protec- 

 tion. It would hardly be possible to do tliis, I should 

 fancy, in the neighbourhood of London. Now, I contend 

 this gives a great advantage to the Peach-grower, but I am 

 not so sure that is of much account in Pear and Apple 

 culture. The same notions with regard to climate have 

 prevailed concerning Jersey and Guernsey ; but a writer 

 long resident there has shown that this is a mistake 

 also. My conclusions, then, on this much- vexed question 

 No. 1107.— Vol. XLII., Old SF.RrEo. 



