502 THE PARKS AND GARDENS OF PARIS. [Chap. XXIX, 



stalks and to water if the weather be dry. Some prefer planting 

 in pots until the offsets have fairly rooted, after which they may 

 he planted out with a hall. Artichokes thus treated are fit for 

 use sooner than under the ordinary method. In all cases, if the 

 planting has been properly conducted, a large number put in in 

 April will be fit for use in the autumn of the same year. Frequent 

 planting of this kind encourages a succession of good heads, 

 whereas leaving the plantations long in one place causes all the 

 heads to come in at nearly the same time. The De Laon variety 

 is considered the best ; Camus de Bretagne is the kind that is 

 used raw. 



Navets. — The long white Turnip, of which siich large quantities 

 are now being brought from Paris to the London market, is 

 the Long Early White Navet des Vertus. The only district 

 about Paris that will grow this very early Turnip is the valley 

 on the banks of the Seine, opposite le Pecq de St. Germain and 

 Marly, between Le Yesinet Chatou and the river. The principal 

 villages where the cultivation of this Turnip is carried on are 

 Croissy and Montesson, especially the former, hence this Turnip 

 is known in the Paris market as the Navet de Croissy. It is 

 almost impossible to grow good early Turnips in the spring and 

 summer on a large scale in the open ground ; either they do not 

 form well or else they flower without forming at all — that is to 

 say, when they escape the ravages of the grub or beetle. In the 

 Croissy district the soil is sandy, the climate somewhat cold, and 

 the air saturated with moisture, conditions all of which are 

 favourable to the cultivation of this Turnip, which elsewhere can 

 only be grown from seed sown in July and August. The Croissy 

 cultivators also produce large quantities of the early round 

 Parsnip and half-long early round scarlet Carrot, of both of 

 which varieties enormous quantities are seen in the Halles and 

 other Paris markets. 



The Melons grown about Paris are quite different in race and 

 flavour to ours, being nearly always of the Cantaloup race. All 

 the Cantaloup Melons resemble each other, but vary greatly 

 under different kinds of treatment. In France, as is often 

 the case in England, almost every gardener has a so-called 

 variety of Melon, Their flavour depends entirely on the 

 time when the fruits are removed from the plant — not too 



