90 The Public Gardens and Parks of Paris. 



They were actually about to be thrown away when the recent muti- 

 lation of the Luxembourg garden took place. So by authority they 

 were ordered to the gardens in the Bois de Boulogne, where, let us 

 hope, they will be well looked after, as it would be a great pity if a 

 collection embracing, as far as could be gathered, nearly all the 

 varieties cultivated in the world, should be lost to horticulture and 

 to science. By the way, I observed where they were digging deep 

 for sand in this garden that it is placed on a bed of capital garden 

 gravel almost as thick as the bed of dense clay under the Zoological 

 Gardens in the Regent's Park, and such a basis is of course excel- 

 lent for a thing of the sort. I saw a man carrying manure on his 

 back to the vines, and sat down and contemplated him going 

 through the interesting task, the basket being placed on a slightly 

 elevated board supported by three sticks, from which he could 

 readily hook on to it when filled. I looked at him with respect, 

 and some sympathy, just as we should at a living specimen of the 

 Dodo or any other animal supposed to be extinct. It occurred to 

 me at the time that the acclimatization of a handy useful species of 

 wheelbarrow would not be unworthy of the Society. However, it 

 is only fair to add that this kind of basket or panier would prove 

 useful in town gardening, as soil has often to be carried through the 

 house and also for carrying vegetables, &c. 



The Lycopodium is used with charming effect to form a turf in 

 the conservatory, and nothing can look better than the New Zealand 

 flax, and several palms and tree ferns, planted near the margin of a 

 winding bit of water in that structure. Musa Ensete too looked 

 nobly in the same position, planted out in a coolish house. Although 

 the glasshouses in the garden afford but little interest, rockwork and 

 the planting out of fine foliage plants tend to make the conservatory 

 very chaste and refreshing. Those who visit it during the winter, 

 cannot fail to be much struck with the effect produced by beds cut in 

 the rich green of Lycopodium denticulatum, and filled with Primulas, 

 Cinerarias, and spring flowers generally. The whole floor of the 

 house, walks excepted, was effectually covered by the Lycopodium. 



