Foreign J^'ulices. 385 



ernnient, desiring to aftbrd pleasure to the inhabitants of Paris, by re- 

 placing the (huk and monotonous irreen of the elms on the Boulevards, 

 by a variety of foliage, applied to the Society of Horticulture for a list 

 of trees, either foreign or indigenous, which might be advantaseously 

 intermingled, so as to produce an agreeable effect to the eye. The So- 

 ciety hastened to fulfil the duty demanded of them, and remitted to the 

 Minister of Public Works the names of certain trees, with varied fo- 

 liage. I regard it as most fortunate, that the government changed their 

 intention, and did not follow their first idea, for the soil of Paris has be- 

 come so eminently calcareous, from the constant additions it has re- 

 ceived from old buildings and repairs since it was first erected, that 

 there is scarcely a tree which can grow there satisfactorily, excepting 

 the elm ; and if a variety had been then planted in place of the elms, 

 nothing would now be seen but dead or dying trees. 



Melons. — On quitting Les Barres, 1 repaired to Montargis, and, 

 whilst waiting for the coach, which was to take me to Fontainbleau, I 

 inquired if there was not some garden in the vicinity worth visiting. 

 '•' None," I was told ; so I went towards some gardens, situated in 

 marshy grounds, at both sides of the I'oad to Paris, in which I had per- 

 ceived, when passing a few days before, a prodigious quantity of mel- 

 ons, of which I wished to learn the species and the cultivation. As I 

 expected, these marsh-gardens were not so well cultivated as those of 

 Paris ; but I was not a little surprised to see, at this latitude, large 

 squares com])letely covered with melons, either ripe or nearly so, the 

 whole springing up in the open air, without dung, without a made bed, 

 without glass, or any shelter whatever. These gardeners simply make 

 a hole of some feet square, which they fill with manure and cover with 

 earth. On this they sow their seed close to each other ; they after- 

 wards transplant them in fresh ground, like cabbages, in a square of 

 the garden. They only cultivate one kind, because it is the only one, 

 they told me, which can accommodate itself to such simple cultivation.* 

 It is an oval melon, of middling size and netted. The day on which 

 their melon harvest commences is about the 12th of September. The 

 finest sell for about ten or twelve sous (fivepence or sixpence.) Al- 

 though these marshes are inferior to those of Paris in point of cultiva- 

 tion, yet the gardeners of Montargis are exceedingly intelligent, indus- 

 trious men. As their gardens produce much more vegetables than is 

 required for the town, they send their wives eight or ten miles distance 

 to sell the produce. In course of time they purchase land, and become 

 small proprietors, and thus it is that the land round Montargis, formerly 

 so barren, is now in such good cultivation. 



Food for Cattle. — From Les Barres to Nemours, I saw the boys and 

 the girls of the neighboring villages, perched up in the trees, pell-mell, 

 which lined the road. These were elms, and the business of the young 

 population above, was not only to gather the leaves, but to break down 

 the young branches, in order to take them away as food for cows. 

 Many trees had not a single leaf but at the extremity, Avhere the hand 

 could not reach. I was astonished at this license, and I spoke of it to 

 an intelligent farmer whom I afterwards met, and he informed me that 

 it was the custom of the country, and that the leaves and young branches 

 were a great resource in feeding cattle. This explanation reminded me 

 that I had seen, on several properties, elms cultivated with a bull-head, 

 for the express purpose of enabling a servant to take oft' the leaves by 

 means of a short ladder. In such cases I make no objection, for a pro- 

 prietor can do what he pleases on his own property, but that the gov- 



* A clever liorticnlturist has since told me, that Uie melon which succeeds best wilh a 

 very simple cultivation, is the sugar melon, with white flesh, sucrin d chair blanche. 

 VOL. IV. — NO. X. 40 



