from June 28. to August 16. 1840. 403 



grafted. The remainder of the forest is covered with indigenous 

 oaks (Q. sessiliflora), beeches, birch, trembling poplar, and in 

 some places with shrubs or low trees, such as Cerasus Padus, 

 i^hamnus (different species), Cornus, J^uniperus, [/'lex, &c. 

 The forest is intersected with avenues and public roads in all 

 directions, some of them the great routes of the country, and 

 others made expressly for the convenience of managing the 

 forest. All the latter are open to the public, and form agreeable 

 rides or walks; which, according to their direction, the season of 

 the year, or the hour of the day, are either open and exposed 

 to the sun, open and in the shade, or arched over with trees. 

 All these roads and alley's, as far as we saw them, were in excel- 

 lent order ; the sand being hoed and raked, and the grass of the 

 green alleys mown. Most of the broad alleys have small side 

 avenues, like the side ailes of a church, separated from the main 

 alley by rows of trees, which are different in different alleys, 

 according to the nature of the soil. There are some handsome 

 avenues of Platanus occidentalis, others o? Ailantus, of Robin/a, 

 of Gleditsch/fl-, of poplars of various kinds, of birch, of alder, 

 and even of Scotch pine. The management of the forest, as 

 described to us by M. Bois d'Hyver, appeared admirable. The 

 most rigid economy is preserved in every thing, and every thing 

 is turned to profit in some way or other. For example : there 

 are certain parts of the forest covered with heath, without trees, 

 and these are gradually being sown with seeds of the Scotch 

 pine or P. Laricio. The seeds are first sown on the heath, and 

 then the latter is sold to the inhabitants to be pulled up as fuel. 

 The act of pulling up is found to be a suflEicient stirring of the 

 soil, and covering for the seeds ; so that the sowing is the entire 

 expense. The seed is procured from cones gathered in the 

 forest at so much per bushel ; and the cones, after being de- 

 prived of the seeds, are sent to Paris, and sold as a fuel of 

 luxury, for more than the cost of gathering them and taking out 

 the seeds. 



All the labour performed in the forest is let by the job ; and 

 the reason why the alleys of every kind are in such excellent 

 order is, that the keeping of them is let out to different persons, 

 who vie with one another in keeping what is under their charge 

 in high order. The grafting of the pines, which was commenced 

 by M. de Larminat, the predecessor of M. Bois d'Hyver, as 

 noticed in the Bo7i Jardlnier for 1826, in the Gardener's Maga- 

 zine, vol. ii. p. 63., and the Arboretum Britannicum, vol. vi. 

 p. 2130., is carried on to the extent of some thousands annually; 

 not by gardeners or regular foresters, but merely by the guards 

 of the forest, whose business it is throughout the year to peram- 

 bulate the forest to detect trespassers. Hence this grafting costs 



D D 3 



