262 Notes atid Reflections during a Tour : — 



which bear abundantly ; and we saw a stack of onions as 

 large as a haystack. The onions are stacked by alternating 

 them with thin layers of rye straw ; the straw at the outside 

 of the stack being doubled in over the onions, so that none 

 of them appeared to view. We have seen carrots stacked in 

 the same manner with wheat straw in England. 



Having seen every thing, M. Cadet de Mars invited us to 

 take some refreshment, and see his wife ; and after partaking 

 of some excellent brown bread, butter, cheese, grapes, apples, 

 and wine, we took leave of him with feelings of veneration 

 and res})ect for the native dignity and worth of the man, and 

 with our imagination fully occupied with the idea of what he 

 would have been with a good education. Any Englishman in 

 Paris who may be curious to visit Aubervilliers may consult 

 M. Lacroix, at M. Vilmorin's, who was our guide. M. Lacroix 

 will, no doubt, find that we have in this account omitted much 

 which is worthy of notice, and probably made some little mis- 

 takes in what we have attempted to relate : but such as there 

 may be, we trust he will attribute to the true cause, forgetful- 

 ness ; and, if they are serious, send us his corrections. 



17ie Fig Gardens at Argcnteuil, a Village T'wo Leagues 

 North of Paris. — Oct. 5. In the neighbourhood of this vil- 

 lage, on the road to St. Denis, the fig is cultivated like the 

 vine, and often mixed with it in the open fields. The figs are 

 low spreading bushes, none of them higher than 6 ft. or 7 ft., 

 with the branches proceeding from the centre or stool in five or 

 six clusters or bundles ; each bundle consisting of three or four 

 leading branches with their side- shoots. The angle which the 

 bundles make with the ground may be about 45"^. The cause 

 of the shoots being in bundles, and of the obliquity of this 

 angle, is, that the bundles are every winter bent down to the 

 ground, and either held down to it by stakes or stones, or 

 partially or wholly buried in the earth. It is a mistake to 

 suppose that a covering of earth is required to protect them 

 from the frost : pressing them to the surface of the ground, 

 and retaining them there, as done with the vines in the 

 south of Germany, is sufficient. It is only because it is found 

 the cheapest mode, labour being less costly than either stones 

 or stakes, that the branches are most frequently partially 

 buried. An old man and his wife described to us the manner 

 in which the trench for each bundle of branches was dug out, 

 and the bundle held down by one man, while another covered 

 the extremities with about a foot of earth. The centre of the 

 bush is sometimes enveloped in straw; but this is considered too 

 expensive to pay. Any leaves and unripe fruit which may be 

 on the branches are removed when the branches are laid down, 



