54 WORCESTER COUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. [1894. 



make the most of their advantages. Go where you may you see that 

 nature and man have united to give beauty to the little garden patch, 

 the broad field, the extensive park, and the grounds of wealth and 

 royalty. 



We go across the Channel into France and there is a change. You 

 see the little cluster of cottages, with their red roofs huddled together 

 with a church spire shooting up from their midst, always neat and 

 tidy ; but the broad acres do not have that park-like appearance we 

 saw in England. Each peasant here, as a rule, tills his own acres, 

 which are few, and the support of himself and family depends upon 

 the number of francs he can realize from his toil, while in England 

 the broad meadows belong to the landlord, whose wealth enables him 

 to devote much to the beauty of the landscape. How fortunate it is 

 that the eyes of the poor are as good as those of the rich, and they 

 can drink in and enjoy in a great measure what the selfish heart might 

 be glad to reserve for itself. 



When Napoleon III. was on the throne of France he determined to 

 add the charms of an English park to the attractions of Paris. The 

 result may be seen in the beautiful Bois de Boulogne. The territory 

 occupied by these gardens was formerly a forest, to which little had 

 been done by the hand of man ; but a great transformation took 

 place. All that the skill of man could suggest, with unbounded 

 wealth, has developed this tract into the finest public grounds of the 

 finest city in the world. It is related of Mahomet that, journeying 

 towards Damascus, he came in sight of the city and stopped, refus- 

 ing to go forward, saying, "It is given man to enter but one paradise 

 and if he enter one on earth he can never enter heaven." In going 

 through the Bois dc Boulogne one can feel the goMen streets of the 

 New Jerusalem can hardly be finer than this. The entire area of this 

 park is said to be 2,158 acres, one-fourth of which is turf, one-half 

 woods, 70 acres of water, and the balance shrubbery and fiowers. 

 Here are found the gardens of the Acclimatization Society, with their 

 menageries, conservatories, and aquariums, all of which are largely 

 visited by the populace seeking pleasure. A striking feature of the 

 Boulogne is the grouping of vegetation for effect, by placing in one 

 place conifers, in another magnolias, and so on, rather than attempt- 

 ing to make all points beautiful by mixing varieties. Some one says, 

 "As a combination of wild wood and noble pleasure gardens the Bois 

 is magnificent." So it is ; and many other squares, gardens, and parks 

 in Paris are magnificent, but in extent they are comparatively small. 



The Luxembourge Conservatories are rich in rare plants, and in 



