THE GEKESEE FARMER. 



351 



„, NOTES FKOM PARIS. 



it IE hot weather which has lasted so long this 



has been very injurious to the newly-formed 



ens, and in particular the large trees that 



i planted on the Boulevards in the winter. It 



pi been necessary to place screens or blinds of 



t bunting on the south side of all the large 



iferjB in the Champs Elysees, and keep them 



syringed and watered night and morning. 



though they have been treated with the greatest 



it is probable that some of them will have to 



amoved. 



le greater number of the large trees have been 

 :ed somewhat ditlerently, owing, of course, to 

 their great size. Their trunks 

 have been thickly covered 

 with moss up to their lower 

 branches; the moss is envel- 

 oped with strong bunting tied 

 all round and surmounted 

 with a sort of funnel in zinc, 

 so as to lead tlie rain down 

 into the moss, and preserve 

 as much humidity as possible 

 to the trunks when there is 

 DO rain. The branches are 

 freely watered in the morning 

 by means of a hose attached 

 to the nearest water-pipe ; 

 and in Paris there are water- 

 pipes in almost every street 

 at convenient distances. — 

 These pipes are opened every 

 morning, and fresh water 

 contiues to run in the gutters 

 0^ for two or three hours, carry- 

 ing off all nauseous matter 

 to the main sewers. 



Fig. 1 is a sketch showing 

 -,^ the ■ trunk of a large tree 



Fio. 1. enveloped in moss and bunt- 



ing, and a funnel at the top. 

 oral of the large Chestnuts planted round the 

 irse in the spring of last year have suffered 

 jrely ; and though every care has been taken to 

 p them well watered, it seems scarcely possible 

 some of them to recover. 



FiQ. 2. 



When I was in the country some short time ago 

 loticed a very simple form of garden-seat, of 

 lich the enclosed sketch will give a better idea 

 m the longest description (fig. 2). It is made of 



common deal [pine], and may be put together with 

 great facility and but little expense. 



All who have lived here only for a few days 

 will admit, I think, that the Parisians show a good 

 deal of taste in setting oft' 

 or arranging their goods 

 in the most attractive 

 manner. It is common to 

 have large plants at each 

 side of the shop-door, and 

 numerous flowers in the 

 window. Even the meat 

 in the butcher's shop may 

 frequently be seen studded 

 with flowers, and the 

 intervening spaces filled 

 with tall Rose trees. Hol- 

 lyhocks, Fuchsias, and 

 other sorts. 



The very firewood in 

 the wood-yards is gener- 

 ally piled up so that the 

 fagade may represent a 

 number of ornamental fig- 

 ures; and I have often 

 seen Melons and Vines, 

 covered with fruit, grow- 

 ing along the sides. The 

 poorest vendors in the 

 street have usually some 

 notions of ornament; if it 

 is only a few Cherries that 

 are sold for a sou they 

 are always disjdayed in 

 the form of a small bo(piet, 

 worked up with the leaves 

 of the Lily of the Valley, 

 one cr two Pansies being 



stuck in at the top. Two or three leaves are left 

 open at the summit, but all the others down the 

 sides have their points tied in. I enclose you a 

 drawing of this Cherry boquet, should yon think 

 it worth engraving on a smaller scale.— London 

 Cottage Gardener. 



THE HOME OF THE GEKANIUM. 



, From this point (Silvermansdrop, South Africa,) 

 we proceeded on horseback, treading our way 

 through thickets of Mimosa, or among fragments 

 of rock, by the margin of a stream which flowed 

 along the bottom of a deep-wooded valley. This 

 stream we frequently crossed — ^at times passing 

 for a considerablfe distance along its course — the 

 water, in some places, scarcely covering the horses' 

 fetlocks, in others reaching to the girtlis. Here I 

 found a new kind of vegetation. The Speckboom 

 or Elephant's Food, Poi'tulacaria Afra, was abund- 

 ant; but I was most gratified on meeting, as with 

 old friends, with several sorts of Geraniums gjjow- 

 ing in their native state. The Horseshoe and plain- 

 leaved Scarlet were quite large shrubs, sometimes 

 six or seven feet high. The dark Oak-leaved, kind 

 grew vigorously. The Ivy-leaved variety spread 

 its creeping branches over the adjacent trees and 

 opened its pink blossoms in great abundance. In 

 other places I noticed several of the finer-leaved 

 Pelargoniums, with small and delicately pencilled 

 flowers. — Ellis's Madagascar. 



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