98 THE TAKKS AND GARDENS OF -TARIS. [Chap. YI. 



subject in a way which cannot fail to benefit the numerous 

 amateurs who attend. As botanical professors lead their pupils on 

 occasional excursions over meadow and hill, so the lecturer takes 

 liis classes to famous horticultural establishments from time to 

 time, — to Moutreuil, famous for its Peaches ; Thomery, for its 

 Vines, and so on. The custom of lecturing on pure gardening, as 

 distinguished from botany, is common in France, and in many 

 cases a source of much good. It has, in fact, been a main cause 

 of the knowledge of fruit-trees, grafting, &c., so widely spread in 

 France, the lecturers being always men knowing the subject 

 thoroughly. Here we leave all the garden-lecturing to the 

 botanists, who, of course, never discourse on horticulture. This 

 is a pity when wo consider how few of the sciences commonly so 

 called are so important for the well-being of a country, and for its 

 beauty, as that of horticulture. 



Visitors to the Continent in the summer months can hardly fail 

 to be struck with the growth in tubs or boxes of certain plants 

 of which we in this country make comparatively little use. 

 Some may remember the beautiful effect produced on a quay 

 fronting the Lake of Lucerne by a number of standards, includ- 

 ing Orange-trees, Portugal Laurels, Pomegranates, Pittosporums, 

 Yellow Jasmines, Evergreen Oaks, Euonymus, Aucubas, and Figs. 

 At Vienna a similar assortment may be seen in front of some of 

 the principal cafes, Avhere one may sit in the open street under the 

 shadow of the Oleander and the Pomegranate. The Oleander is, 

 with the Myrtle and the Pomegranate, a great favourite of the 

 Parisians. The reasons for this are obvious — its elegant habit, 

 glossy foliage, profusion of bright rosy or white flowers, endowed, 

 moreover, with an agreeable almond-like perfume, offer recom- 

 mendations hardly to be exceeded by those of other plants. The 

 culture, moreover, is easy. Indifferent as to the treatment it 

 receives in winter, it may be kept in cellars or passages ; hence 

 its frequency abroad in the windows of the artizan and at tlie 

 doors of the merchant's office. 



Much as one may dislike the culture of trees in tubs, it is 

 impossible not to admire the superb specimens of Oleanders in 

 large tubs which may be seen in the Luxembourg Gardens in 

 summer, often so profusely covered with flowers that the upper 

 part of each bush looks like a bed of flowers. They are treated 



