1851. 



THE GENESEE FARMER. 



examine successively the great works of Italy, Spain, 

 Belginm, France, ancient and modern, also ancient 

 Grecian and Egyptian works of art. This is contin- 

 ually a great resort of strangers. 



The Pain is Royal, now Palais JVationalc, or Na- 

 tional palace, is literally a palace of shop keepers and 

 restaurants. It is an immense building presenting a 

 series of arcades and piazzas, through which it 

 would take one an hour to walk. Those arcades 

 and piazzas are occupied with shops, where all the 

 most brilliant goods are sold and the most fashionable 

 restaurants are kept. It is a giy and a thronged 

 and busy place, day and evening. The building 

 forms a sort of hollow square, in the centre of which 

 is a pretty garden with a fountain, and on either side 

 linden avenues or promenades. Now, in the sum- 

 mer evenings, this place is absolutely crowded, and 

 when lighted up brilliantly with gas, through the 

 garden and in the long ranges of shops, a fountain 

 in the centre gushing and sparkling, it is really a 

 beautiful scene, and no wonder so many are attracted 

 to it. Ices and other refreshments are cr.rried about 

 in all directions by a swarm of waiters from the vari- 

 ous restaurants, and friends are on all sides meeting 

 and conversing on the topics of the day, k,c. 



The Palais Elysee is situated on the Champs d" 

 Elysee, already alluded to as the fashionable resort. 

 It is now the residence of the President. These are 

 the principal public edifices to which fine gardens are 

 attached. They are the recreating thoroughfares 

 where the student and the artisan, confined all day in 

 a close room, can go on an evening or on a Sunday, 

 and enjoy a stroll among the trees and flowers. What 

 luxury, and what a blessing for so large a city, that 

 such pleasure and health giving institutions are scat- 

 tered through it ! 



In this connection I must mention the cemetries, 

 because they are much frequented. There are three 

 fine ones, the Pere la Chaise, the Montmatre, and 

 Mount Parnnssus. The first is the finest, and 

 is probably the most interesting in the world. It 

 is a beautiful illustration of the people's taste, and 

 the homage they pay to the memory of departed 

 friends. It is full of beautiful cypresses, marble 

 tombs and vaults, and little chapels, in which fresh 

 flowers are daily placed. A portion of the ground, 

 like our Mt. Hope, is well elevated and gives a mag- 

 nificient prospect, and as we pass around we come 

 upon the tombs of some illustrious persons, who 

 have figured largely in the pages of history. It is a 

 charming place in which to dream away a day. 



Then in every corner of Paris we find institutions 

 that not only from their character but from their ar- 

 chitecture and historical recollections, are of great 

 interest to strangers. Such are the churches both 

 ancient and modern, JYotre Dame, St. Snlpice, St. 

 Roch, Madelaiiie, and twenty others, in which are dif- 

 ferent styles of architecture carried out in all their 

 puritj^, with the finest examples of stained glass, 

 painting, sculpture, k,c., and in which every day are 

 performances of sacred music, such as we can never 

 hear in America. Last Sunday, at St. Roch, in addi- 

 tion to the organ and choir, there was a band of 50 

 instruments, and the performance was such as I can 

 never forget. Besides the churches there are the 

 buildings devoted to a multitude of charitable, liter- 

 ary and scientific institutions. The number of these 

 is truly astonishing. To give you some idea of these 

 things I shall name a few of the more prominent. — 



The National Library, founded nearly 500 years ago, 

 occupies a great building. It contains about 1,500,- 

 000 volumes, 100,000 volumes of manuscript, 400,- 



000 medals, 1,000,000 engravings, 300,000 maps, 

 fee. To the library is attsched a school for the living 

 oriental languages. There are more than 20 other 

 extensive libraries. There are societies for the pro- 

 motion of every branch of human learning, art, and 

 science ; charitable institutions, to meet the misfor- 

 tunes of all classes of society. With all these attrac- 

 tions ^or all classes of people, it is no wonier that it 

 should be looked upon as the great cnpital of the 

 world. I met a gentleman from the United States a 

 few days ago, who remarked that for those who did 

 not wish to accumulate wealth it was the only place 

 in the worlJ worth living in. A great consideration, 

 too, is that living is cheap and good. In the art of 

 cooking, which has considerable influence on good 

 living,the French can teach the world. The poorest 

 peasant can make a comfortable and healthy meal 

 of what our laborers could not use. Their living cost 

 but little, and they seldom employ a physician. This 

 reminds me of the Markets of Paris. In regard to 

 meat, beef and mutton is far inferior, generally speak- 

 ing, to that of London. I do not believe that in the 

 world there is to be found such meat markets as 

 those of London ; but in London meat is a stapb ar- 

 ticle of food, here it is not so. The fruit and veget- 

 ables of Paris are exceedingly fine. At this moment 

 there is a profusion of strawberries of the finest qual- 

 ity ; Elton, British (^ueen, Pine Jipplc, Keen's Seed- 

 ling, and the Mpines, are the principal sorts. The 

 last are the most plentiful, grown in great abundance. 

 British Queen, extraordinary for size and beauty, and 

 it commands the higest price.. Elton comes next in 

 rank. Melons fme—verij Jiite — are abundant at two 

 to three francs apiece. Radishes delicious, — a 

 small, early variety, now in market, used for forcing, 

 is so tender that it melts in the mouth. It is oval, 

 about as large as a lady's thimble, and of a pink 

 color. I wonder why it has not found its way to 

 our gardens. I am not particularly fond of rad- 

 ishes, but 1 should feel ashamed to tell how many 



1 have eaten of them every day. Lettuce and 

 chicory so tender that they can hardly sustain 

 their own weight. They have a little early, short 

 carrot, different from our short horn, the best I have 

 ever tasted, as they serve it up in soups, and on a-la- 

 mode beef it is delicious. I am determined to intro- 

 duce it. Large early apricots ureaibundnnt. Mad- 

 elaine pears appeared a few days ago, but they are 

 from the south. Potatoes are very fine. Currants 

 and gooseberries abundant and cheap. May Duke is 

 about the only sort of cherry to be found in market, 

 and in most parts of the country it and the Montmor- 

 ency, (Early Richmond,) are the only sorts grown to 

 any extent. But the May Dukes are very fine, 

 lart^e, and with less acid than with us generally. 



The Market Gardens of Paris.— The city is sur 

 rounded on all sides with small market gardens, ooth 

 without and within the walls, and it has given me 

 great pleasure to examine their operations. When I 

 found how superior their productions were, I felt a 

 curiosity to know more about their culture, and I 

 strolled out one day to Montreuil, some 4 or 5 miles 

 from town, to see the famous peach gardens, and on 

 my way I visited the best market gardens. The 

 whole way to Montreuil is a series of them. I very 

 soon found the secret, if secret it be, of their success. 

 In the first place the ground is made 2 or 3 feet deep 



