478 



THE PARKS AND GARDENS OF PARIS. [Cuaf. XXVIII. 





CHAPTEK XXVIII. 

 Salads in Paris. 



The market-gardens immediately round Paris are, in spring, for 

 the most part covered with ghiss — large clear bell-glasses, about 

 18 inches high, and small shallow frames. In each large glass a 

 huge Cos Lettuce rises nearly to the top, while at its feet — pigmies 

 round a giant — there is a ring of those dwarf tender Lettuces so 

 much sought after in winter and early spring. The icy breath 

 of the north is probably blowing over the garden ; but the plants 

 are well screened from it, sitting in the sun within their glass 

 homes. We have all laughed at Sydney Smith's " bottled sun- 

 beams ;" but we literally have them here. Sometimes these glasses 

 are thickly placed on shallow hot-beds, when used for winter and 

 early-spring crops ; sometimes on slightly-sloping beds of rich 

 light soil. The bell-glasses are used, for the most part, for the 

 production of Cos Lettuces ; the shallow frames for the Noire 

 Lettuce, so much in demand in winter. The culture of Salads in 

 the suburbs of Paris for the supply of its markets and the markets 

 of many other cities, is one of the most interesting examples of 

 successful cultivation it would be possible to name. The sugges- 

 tion that climate is the cause of the superiority of the French in 

 this respect, will no doubt occur to some. It is not so, however. 

 By the adoption of the methods to be presently described, as good 



