298 



Gardening Visit to Paris, 



in all probability, a French invention, rendered advisable by the 

 great width of the panes. jSpirse'a Filipendula rubra, not yet, we 

 believe, in British gardens, is now in flower for the first time. 

 M. Schoene, the head gardener, is uncertain of the origin of this 

 variety, which he procured some years ago from M. Cels. 

 Z/ychnis fulgens, Matricaria Mandiana, and a purple Z)61ichos, 

 were also in great variety. The rose Noisette Desprez now 

 makes a fine display. A fence of trelHswork, formed of young 

 chestnut, with oak posts, and not painted, is found to last from 

 twelve to fifteen years ; the laths are placed at 9 in. apart, and 

 tied to three horizontal rails by iron wire. It forms a very neat 

 fence, and is much used in the gardens 

 and pleasure-grounds about Paris, and< 

 even as a fence to the railroads. The 

 chestnut used is that of young trees from 

 6 in. to 1 ft. in diameter, and it is never 

 painted. M. Schoene tried the effect of 

 paint, and found that it rendered the 

 laths less durable, probably by enclosing 

 the moisture. The bottoms of the seats 

 in the pleasure-ground here are formed 

 of two boards inclined to each other, and 

 about 1 in. apart, as in Jig. 46., the ob- 

 ject being to allow the immediate escape 

 of the rain. A riding-house has re- 

 cently been built here, 158 ft. French 

 long, and 58 ft. wide, which is supposed 

 to be the largest in Europe, except that of Moscow, of which a 

 section is given in the Encyclojjcedia of Cottage Architecture. 



The Villa of Baron Rothschild, at Surenne, is, perhaps, the 

 best laid out and the best kept in the neighbourhood of Paris. 

 Its extent may be 15 or 20 acres, on a surAice originally flat; 

 but it has been hollowed out in some places, and raised in others, 

 under the direction of the architect, Beranger, so as to exhibit 

 some variety. The house is small, and, in point of architecture, 

 is without merit. The kitchen-garden is large, and contains a 

 range of 600 ft. of hothouses, and about as many feet in length 

 of frames and pits. Every luxury that a kitchen-garden can 

 produce is raised in quantities, in season and out of season. An 

 ornamental garden building contains a beautiful steam-engine, 

 the machinery of which is seen at work through its large 

 windows, pumping up the water to an elevated reservoir, whence 

 not only the house and various fountains and cisterns are sup- 

 plied, but also a system of pipes under all the lawns, with cocks 

 at regular distances, to which leather pipes can be screwed on, 

 and the surface watered with rapidity and ease. In some cases 

 these pipes are laid along the upj^er edge of sloping banks, con- 

 cealed by the grass; and, being pierced with holes, from these 



Fig. 46. Garden Chair in use at 

 Monceaux. 



