404 Gardening Visit to Pai'is, 



nothing, as these men must be paid at any rate for their services 

 as guards of the forest. 



Thomerij. — This village is situated on the banks of the Seine, 

 and covers the lower part of a slope, having a north aspect. It 

 is, nevertheless, well sheltered from the north winds, by a con- 

 tinuous ridge on the opposite bank of the Seine, which directs 

 the north winds completely over the village. No south wind 

 can touch it, because that is thrown off from the upper part of 

 the bank of which the village forms the lower part ; and it is 

 protected from the east and west winds by the winding of the 

 Seine and its accompanying banks. These circumstances have 

 the effect of placing Thomery in a basin, sheltered on every 

 side; but which, nevertheless, does not retain the cold air which 

 descends from the high grounds, because that is carried off by 

 the current of the river. Hence the suitableness of the situation 

 for the vine culture on walls. The appearance of the village, 

 on first approaching it, is that of a succession of tiled copings 

 to walls apparently at a very short distance from one another, 

 with here and there a small dwelling-house intervening, and in 

 the distance, by the river side, a long row of houses, which 

 constitutes the village. The extent of ground covered by the 

 walls has been more than doubled within the last ten years. 

 The manner in which the vines are planted, trained, and ma- 

 naged has been so clearly described and illustrated by figures 

 in Vol. V. p. 286. to p. 292., that we consider it unnecessary 

 to enter into details. The practice recommended by Mr. Hoare, 

 in his Treatise on the Culture of the Vine, comes the nearest to 

 that of Thomery of any we know, and was probably suggested 

 by it. On those aspects not suitable for the vine, the apricot is 

 planted ; and on those not suitable for the apricot, the crassane 

 pear is trained. The grapes, which are almost all of the light- 

 coloured varieties of Chasselas, are fit to eat about the middle 

 of August, but seldom gathered and sent to market till the end 

 of the month. Nevertheless, on the 29th of July we found 

 several bunches sufficiently ripe to be very good to eat ; but the 

 cause of this maturity was, that the seeds had not been fecun- 

 dated, and hence the beri'ies were without stones, and as small 

 as those of the Corinth grape. At the same time, there were 

 exposed for sale in Fontainebleau, as well as in Paris, grapes of 

 what is called the Madeleine, or, in England, the Black July, 

 which were tolerably ripe, and full grown ; but they were de- 

 ficient in flavour, and such as a London fruiterer woukl say "no 

 gentleman would eat." In the original account published of the 

 fruit walls of Thomery in Lelieur's Pomone Franfoise, the walls 

 are said to be of mud, washed over with mortar, with copings 

 of boards or straw : but they have, within the last few years, 

 been all rebuilt of stone; in most cases dry, and in some cases 



