404 



restricted. The predominant impression with which one leaves 

 the English Garden at Munich is that it is a labyrinth of walks 

 and roads hemmed in by tall slender trees, which ought long ago 

 to have been thinned, and that it goes a long way to justify the 

 sarcasm levelled by a Frenchman at the path-making of so-called 

 " English Gardens " in general : " You intoxicate your gardener, 

 and then mark out his tracks." 



The Nursery of Messrs. Lemoine, Nancy. June 20. 



In travelling from Munich to Paris, the train passes through 

 Nancy, and advantage of this was taken to visit the renowned 

 nursery of Messrs. Lemoine et Fils. For many years this nursery 

 has been famous for a remarkable series of hybrid plants produced 

 in it. M. Lemoine the elder, now an octagenarian, but still busy 

 and active, has a wonderful faculty — it really amounts to genius— 

 for estimating and bringing out the qualities of a plant for breeding 

 purposes. The acme of success in hybridising is to unite in the 

 progeny of two species the good qualities of both, and to eliminate 

 their undesirableness. No one living has achieved more in this 

 direction than M. Lemoine. Two instances may be given : The 

 Begonia "Gloire de Lorraine" gave to greenhouses a new and most 

 useful plant of beauty and distinction ; and Philadelphus Lemoinei 

 was the first of a beautiful race of hardy shrubs quite distinct from 

 anything we had before. A man's fame might securely rest on 

 these two plants alone, but a great work also has been done in this 

 nursery among lilacs, deutzias, clematis, gladioli, and many more. 



Messrs. Lemoine also make a speciality of new and rare plants, 

 both hardy and tender. A visit paid to this nursery, therefore, is 

 lull ot interest and instruction, especially to anyone on the look-oat 

 tor new and out-of-the-way plants. A mere list of such plants 

 would be too long to give here, and many of the new hybrids I 

 saw are not yet put in commerce or even named. 



Verrieres-le-Buisson. June 22. 



Verrieres is famous as the central establishment of the great firm 

 thp 1 lT nn /^ n< l ri 6U , X et Cie -' which dat *« back to 1 746. It is also 

 fe rirtSfe! e + ^ ead ° f the firm > M - PMippe L- de Vilmorin, and 

 rnw fn fv, i eSt t0 me Was in the fine collection of trees which 

 here nHJn!i! rg ^ garf l en attached to the ho ^e. The property 

 bv the hZ I \ J * F f^ ch P ark ^id out by Le Notre, was purchased 



whteh n^w i ° i h . 6 i fim in 1815 ' and 8everal of the fine treeS 

 Man, E Dame ? t ltS lawns were Panted between 1815 and 1820. 



o thei? k,nd T mt6 T ^ as belonging to the first importations 

 examnle o?1t! ^f mto France - The ^den is a charming 

 of UNol IK 1 ? 1 ^ 8t ^ le - a ***> the very antithesis of that 

 Uwns,re hoJ C ^ fc dis P laced - Smooth and gently undulating 

 arr^nmnri/i ed by n the fine tree8 ' n ™ a century old, and there 

 garden s a beaS Y*"^ ° ne of ** last fea ^es added to the 

 The firm of Vil* 1 ™* k &**** made by the present proprietor, 

 the woH<r Jd T l ?^ ndrleUX are the Neatest seed merchants in 

 Veneres i s a itL iT W ° rk ° n a *™ d scale « Attached to 

 an extensi e Jlf^*^ in * har S e of a demist, and also 



