Reviews. 355 



better with the Ghent gardeners than they do with us: they 

 all run up to seed. CauHflowers and broccoUs also fail in the 

 sandy soil. This article contains many important facts, and 

 is just such a one as should enrich a Mag-azine. We have 

 endeavored to extract such as will be the most useful to our 

 readers. 



Article II is a notice of the state of gardening in part of 

 France, made during an excursion through the country, by 

 Mr. G. Charlwood, seedsman. Mr. Charlvvood is well known 

 as a gentleman of much intelligence, and any thing from his 

 pen is generally read with interest. The present article is 

 confined to an account of the markets at Paris, the nurseries, 

 private gardens, &c. He gives the following account of the 

 flower market: 



" The large market for the distant country growers is called la Marche 

 des Innocens, the exterior line of which is also completely built on, leav- 

 ing the interior a large square, which is every morning more or less 

 occupied by the cultivators, and afterwards throughout the day, by the 

 venders of all the minor articles of general consumption. Quite distinct, 

 and at a considerable distance from all these, is the market for flowers, 

 on the south side of the Seine, a space two hundred yards long by thirty 

 wide, on which several rows of robinias are planted, which thrive vigor- 

 ously. It is arranged into compartments on each side, and in the centre 

 there is a supply of water in a reservoir. The plants are tastefully 

 displayed and arranged on each side, and in compartments, and the 

 centre: the latter portion is generally cleared by nine o'clock in the 

 morning, to allow the ready access of company during the remainder of 

 the day; the sale in the morning being materially confined to the dealens, 

 who, as with us, purchase the plants, and convey them to the more 

 distant parts of the city. After this time, the necessity of a good supply 

 of water becomes apparent, as many of the plants have been recently 

 potted, and others have been transposed to larger pots, in which prac- 

 tice the French gardeners are extremely expert. The markets are 

 almost exclusively attended by the females, whose husbands frequently 

 accompany them to assist in arranging the plants for sale, and afterwards 

 return to their respective gardens, to superintend and assist in the labors 

 of the soil; the cultivation of flowers and vegetables being generally 

 confined to the limits of the city. I must not forget to state that the 

 plants sold in the flower market are generally the free-flowering pelar- 

 goniums, cactuses, neriums, orange trees, and other showy and fragrant 

 species; all of which are neatly tied up, and the heads of the plants are 

 sheltered in white paper, which is formed into a kind of cup, to protect 

 the blossoms, and yet permit them to be seen, and which improves the 

 saleable appearance of the plants. Another portion of the quay is appro- 

 priated at this season to the sale of herbaceous and seedling plants for 

 transplanting; and this space is occupied through the winter by the 

 growers of fruit trees and evergreens, which are then brought to market 

 in great number and variety." 



"The most defective feature in the French gardens," Mr. Charlwood 

 remarks, " is the bad state of their grass plots, which they afiect to be 

 very fond of, but of the treatment of which they are either quite ignorant, 

 or very careless; as they totally neglect the only means of obtaining, or 

 even preserving them, hi most instances, the formation of a grass plot 

 or lawn, is confined to sowing the surface with perennial rye grass, and 

 only in some instances a few other varieties of selected grrxssesare inter- 



