458 THE PARKS AND GARDENS OF PARIS. [Chap. XXVI. 



CHAPTEE XXVI. 

 The Market Gardens of Paris. 



It has frequently been said that the minute division of property 

 in land retards the improvement of agriculture in France. It 

 may be so with farming, but it certainly does not hold good with 

 market-gardens. These in and around Paris are very small, but 

 they are the best and most thoroughly-cultivated patches of 

 ground in Europe. Every foot of earth is at work ; and cleanli- 

 ness, rapid rotation, deep culture, abundant food and water to the 

 crops — in a word, every virtue of good cultivation — are there 

 to be seen. It is doubtful if such good results could be obtained 

 from large market-gardens, and certainly in no part of Britain is 

 the ground, whether garden or farm, so thoroughly cultivated as 

 in these little family gardens, as they may be called, for they are 

 usually no larger than admits of the owner seeing every crop in 

 the garden at one glance. The Paris market-gardeners as a class 

 keep to themselves, and each seems content with about as much 

 ground as gives occupation to his family. They are as a rule a 

 prosperous class. The gardens vary in size from one to two, and 

 occasionally three acres, are usually walled-in, and contain a 

 cottage, a few sheds, and a well. 



In the neighbourhood of our English cities the price of ground 

 is high — according to our scale that around Paris is very high 

 indeed, the rent varying from £24 to £33 per acre. On entering 

 upon a market-garden the tenant has to pay in addition to his 

 rent from £200 to £600 for stock, fixtures, etc. Manure forms 

 a very considerable item in the expenses of these gardens. One 

 market-gardener paid £20 a month for manure. His garden was 

 about three English acres in extent, which is much larger than 



