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THE GENESEE FAEMEE. 



%Mm' Department 



VILMORIN'S FLOWER GARDEN AT PARIS. 



TiiE following letter from Mr. Barry, while in Europe, will be interesting, aa showing the extent to 

 which the raising of flower seed is carried in France, and the care taken to preserve all varieties in 

 purity and perfection. "We shall receive from this establishment a large collection of geeds, (probably- 

 some time in January,) and will distribute them among our female readers. So, fair lovera of flower? 

 Bend on your orders and we will furnish you a collection of flower seeds, without charo-e, so fine that 

 all who pass by in summer may know where the Genesee Farmer is taken, by the beauty of the 

 garden. "We shall not be able to supply seed until February, but all applications are placed on file 

 and will be attended to. 



Among tlie many interesting gardens I have visited in and around Paris, none have 

 pleased me more than the great flower garden of Vilmorin. It contains, I should think 

 between two and three acres, and is wholly, or almost wholly, devoted to the culture of 

 annual flowers for the seeds. It is not laid out artistically like a flower garden for it is 

 in fact a flower nursery, laid out in rectangular beds four feet wide, with paths two feet 

 ■wide between. At the entrance gate there is a well of enormous depth, (I forget the 

 number of feet,) from which water is drawn, by a horse, into a great cistern, and thence 

 conveyed by pipes into the various quarters of the garden and deposited in tanks, from 

 which it can be applied liberally with very little labor. In very warm, dry weather such 

 as they frequently experience here in the months of July and August, the horse pumps 

 the water runs, and the men pour it on, all day. There can be no such thino- as a 

 drouth where this arrangement exists. I have already, in speaking of market gardens 

 alluded to the Paris system of watering and its effects. I have seen a great many 

 nurseries ; I think I can say I have seen the largest and the smallest, the worst and the 

 best that exist, but I must decidedly call this flower nursery the most beautiful. I am 

 just in time to see it — the finest things are in full bloom. 



What a gorgeous display of Dwarf Rocket Larkspur, immense beds of it, every color 

 and every shade of color, by itself, red, white, purple, blue of ^ arious shades, and some 

 beautifully striped like a carnation. They are indeed the glory of the garden. CI must 

 say here, for the benefit of the more inexperienced, that this is not an annual but a 

 biennial flower, the seeds being sown one year and flowering the next.) Next in 

 importance, in point of show just now, stand the German Ten Week Stocks. Like the 

 Rockets, they are grown in great quantitities, and every color and every shade is ke])t 

 by itself with the greatest care and precision. Those who never see but the product vi 

 a paper of mixed Ten Week Stocks, can have no idea of the display that can be made 

 with this flower. Here are dark purple, of a velvety richness ; there are fiery scarlet ; 

 next we come to delicate lilacs, then flesh color, pure white, &c., &c., through all the 

 richest, deepest, darkest, and most delicate tints. The seeds of all these colors of Rockets 

 and Ten Week Stocks are carefully saved and put up separately. The Balsamines and 

 Asters are prominent objects, but I am too early for them. Among the most striking 

 species, I have noticed Godetia rubicunda, rosy purple, and Godetia Lindleyana lilac 

 with red spots. These are both fine, showy things. Kalffussia Amelloides has flowers 

 of a rich, deep blue. The Yellow Centaurea is showy and fine. Lobelia ramosus and 

 eriniis are two slender dwarf growing plants that make charming masses. The White 

 Viscaria is gTown largely and makes fine masses. Leptosiphon (Gilia) Androsacea and 

 Densi flora, are fine for the same purpose. I see an Escholtzia, nearly white ; a very 

 large, double, purple, Gnaphalium (everiasting flower) ; a beauriful yellow Platystemon 

 from California ; great beds of Alstromerias and Mesembry anthemums. The tri-colored 



