526 THE PARKS AND GARDENS OF PARIS. [Chap. XXXI. 



CHAPTER XXXI. 



Lilacs of the Paris Gardens, 



Lilacs, like Ivy, are of more importance in France than with us. 

 After the sweet Violet — sold by millions of bunches — perhaps 

 the most welcome plant in the flower-shops of Paris in winter 

 and spring is the white Lilac. It has for a good many years 

 been popular in Paris and other continental cities, and more 

 recently has been frequently seen in Covent Garden, invariably 

 imported from Paris. The production of this white Lilac has 

 long been a source of interest to cultivators. On seeing snowy 

 fragrant masses of it in the shops so early as October, many 

 persons have supposed it to be a white variety of Lilac, but this 

 is not so ; it is the common kind forced into bloom in the dark, 

 and, though the blossoms are of as pure a white as most white 

 flowers, they are simply blanched, just as the shoots of Seakale 

 are. At first, the white variety of the common Lilac would seem 

 to be the most suitable for forcing in this manner, but those who 

 have tried it found it much less so. In the dark it does not make 

 such a vigorous growth as the common Lilac, and, oddly enough, 

 the flowers do not come of so pure a white. The French force 

 the common Lilac in great quantities for yielding these white 

 blossoms, both in pots, and planted out in beds under glass. The 

 plants intended to be forced are cut round with a spade in early 

 autumn to induce them to form flower-buds more abundantly, 

 and this also facilitates their removal in a compactly-rooted 

 manner at a later period of the same year. On being taken up 

 and placed in the house in which they are to be forced, they are 

 at first kept somewhat .cool, but soon the heat is increased till it 

 reaches from 80^ to nearly 90^, and abundance of moisture is 



