400 Gardening Visit to Paris, 



rich, and covered with heavy crops of wheat, potatoes, clover, 

 and beans. Beyond Ris we pass through vineyards containing 

 some standard peaches, which, in the time of Henry IV., sup- 

 pHed the Paris market, till, in the time of Louis XIV., peaches 

 began to be grown against walls at Montreuil. Enter the 

 Forest of Fontainebleau, and pass some fine old oaks and beeches ; 

 the oaks all Quercus sessiliflora. The blanks in the forest are 

 carefully filled up with Pitms sylvestris, poplars, and various 

 other trees, according to the nature of the soil and the character 

 of the surface. The ground in various places previously prepai'ed; 

 and after planting it is kept tolerably clear of weeds. Arrived 

 at the town, we immediately called on M. Souchet, the royal 

 gardener, a most intelligent and obliging man, who showed us 

 every thing under his care. The English garden here, being in 

 a low situation, with abundance of water, the turf was of a 

 deeper green than in most of the places about Paris. The trees 

 have grown rapidly, and attained a large size; but they were 

 much crowded. A great many fine specimens of Populus moni- 

 lifera, both male and female; the latter produce abundance of 

 seeds, from which young plants rise in great quantities. A 

 variety of horsechestnut, with a fastigiate head, crowded with 

 straight ascending shoots. The reserve garden here is richly 

 stocked with plants, both in pots for supplying the palace in 

 the autumn and winter, and in the open ground for the borders 

 of the ancient garden in front of the palace. Lechenault/a for- 

 mosa is grown in great quantities, trained to a single stem, and 

 flowers the greater part of the year. Phylica ericoides, so 

 treated, is in flower throughout the winter. We never saw 

 plants better grown than they are in this reserve garden, which 

 is under the care of M. Souchet's son ; and the merit is the 

 greater, as the pits and frames are of the slightest and most 

 temporary construction. 



The orange trees here are in a better condition than any 

 which we saw in France. The foliage is of a deep green, the 

 shoots vigorous, and the heads large and handsome. The soil 

 they are grown in is loam, enriched with rotten dung or leaf 

 mould ; and they are placed in the summer season in a situation 

 shaded by lofty trees, which, we apprehend, is the cause of the 

 deep green of the leaves. Their vigorous growth M. Souchet 

 attributes to their being properly supplied with water in the 

 growing season, and not having too much when they are in a 

 dormant state. In many cases, he says, orange trees are watered 

 abundantly, and yet the main body of the soil is never pene- 

 trated by it, which he takes care shall always be the case. The 

 trees are kept through the winter in a stable, with vei'y little light, 

 and no fire-heat. 



The geometric garden is a square, surrounded by a broad 

 terrace, raised about 5 ft. and containing a double arcade of 



