FEU IT AND KITCHEN GAKDENS NEAR PARIS. 15 



bearing a large fruit cluster, one consisting of 300 fruits, the 

 other 250. They had been planted in March, 1846; and in 

 April, 1847, the fruit was expected to be ripe. The stem of 

 one measured 31 inches in circumference. They were growing 

 in leaf mould, the extent for each plant being 4 feet by 4 feet 

 6 inches, and about 15 inches deep. When the fruit is ripe, 

 the plants are taken up, and the places prepared for fresh 

 suckers. 



The Strawberries here forcing were the Comte de Paris and 

 the Princesse Royale. 



At the Establishment of M. Cels, Chaussee du Maine^ noted 

 for large collections of Camellias and Cacti, and amongst the 

 latter many thousand seedlings, there is a wall of Peach-trees, 

 planted about six years ago by M. Alexis Le Pere, of Montreuil, 

 and has been since managed by him according to his system, a 

 modification of that usually practised at Montreuil. The trees 

 extend about 12 feet each way, two main branches diverg- 

 ing at an angle of 45 of elevation ; subsidiary branches are 

 trained from the under sides of these ; but no branch has been 

 suffered to grow to any extent on the upper sides of the main 

 branches, a number of fruit-bearing shoots only being there en- 

 couraged, consequently a large portion of wall still remains 

 uncovered between the two V formed main branches. 



Gardens of the Luxembourg. We proceeded to these gar- 

 dens, March 5th, to hear the lecture on pruning, by M. Hardy, 

 at 8 A.M., in the open ground. M. Hardy delivers two lectures 

 every week, free to the public, on pruning, grafting, planting, 

 and in short, every thing connected with the management of 

 fruit-trees, finishing the course in the end of April. He has 

 generally from 300 to 400 hearers, among whom are young men 

 employed in the Luxembourg Gardens, the Jardin des Plantes, 

 and other establishments, by permission of the respective direc- 

 tors. In various instances the young men afterwards make up 

 for the time they are thus absent. But the greater number of 

 those who attend are amateurs. M. Hardy also lectures in the 

 afternoon to gentlemen wishing to obtain a knowledge of the 

 management of fruit-trees. The admittance for each person to 

 any one of these is, however, 3 francs. From fifteen to twenty 

 gentlemen usually attend the afternoon lectures. 



In his first lecture, I was informed, M. Hardy explained the 

 physiology of the tree, the action of the sap, the names of the 

 different parts of the tree ; the stem, branches, and the technical 

 distinctions of the latter, such as Rameaux d bois, Rameaux d 

 fruit, Brindilles, Lambourdes : branches for wood ; branches 



