20 



supplied a great part of Europe with fruit trees. The 

 Jardin des Plants, in Paris, " includes departments 

 which may be considered as schools for horticulture, 

 planting, agriculture, medical botany, and general 

 economy ;" and there can be no question, says Lou- 

 don, of its being the most scientific and best kept in 

 Europe. 



The flower garden of Malmaison, the botanical 

 garden of Trianon, and numerous nursery, herb, 

 medicinal, experimental, and botanic gardens, in vari- 

 ous parts of the kingdom, are pre-eminent for the 

 variety, number, and excellence of their products, and 

 for the perfection of their cultivation. 



Holland has been di&tinguished, since the period of 

 the Crusades, for her flower gardens, culinary vegeta- 

 bles, and plantations of fruit trees. The north of 

 Europe and this country, are still dependent upon her 

 florists, for the most splendid varieties of the bulbous 

 rooted plants, and her celebrated nurseries, which 

 long replenished those of England, have been recently 

 enriched by the acquisitions of Van Mons and Du- 

 quesne. Several of the new kinds of fruits produced 

 by those indefatigable experimentalists, already orna- 

 ment our gardens, and, with the excellent varieties 

 created by Knight, promise to replace those, which 

 have either become extinct, or are so deteriorated in 

 quality, as to discourage their farther cultivation. 



This method of hybridous fructification is founded 

 on Linnaeus's Sexual System of Plants ; but the ven- 

 erable President of the London Horticultural Society 

 is entitled to the merit of having first practically 

 availed of a suggestion, which emanated from the 



