386 Notes and Reflections during a Tour : — 



the habit of comparing it with Kew, with which it has scarcely- 

 one thing in common, and of giving the latter the preference 

 because it has a more extensive collection of plants, we shall 

 briefly point out the manner in which the avowed objects of 

 the Paris garden are proposed to be obtained. 



Plants are brought to the Paris garden from all countries, 

 by a universal correspondence, by particular naturalists sent 

 out at the expense of the nation, and by the general protec- 

 tion and favour of government to the objects of science and 

 the pursuits of scientific men. Objects of natural history 

 destined for the Paris garden, in whatever description of ves- 

 sels they may arrive in a French port, pay no entrance duty, 

 and they are mostly forwarded by government conveyances 

 to Paris free of expense. Every warlike, exploring, or com- 

 mercial expedition is accompanied by naturalists officially 

 appointed or voluntarily admitted, to whom every facility is 

 afforded in the objects of their pursuit. Plants received in the 

 Paris garden are propagated without loss of time, and distri- 

 buted, in the first place, to all the botanic gardens of France, 

 of which there is at least one in the capital of every depart- 

 ment ; next, seeds or plants are sent to such of the colonies as 

 it is supposed may profit most from them ; and, lastly, they are 

 sent to foreign correspondents, in proportion to similar favours 

 received, or -returns expected. The departmental botanic 

 gardens propagate with all rapidity the plants received from 

 the central garden, and distribute them among the eminent 

 proprietors and cultivators of the department. This, at all 

 events, is remarkably good in theory. 



Botany is taught by the lectures, demonstrations, and herbo- 

 risations of a professor, and illustrated by an exemplification 

 of 124 orders of the Jussieuean system in living plants. A 

 considerable number of these plants are necessarily exotic, 

 and kept under glass during winter; but, in May, before the 

 demonstrations begin, they are brought out in the pots, and 

 sunk in the earth in their proper places in the systematic 

 arrangement, with their names and the names of the orders 

 to which they belong placed beside them. 



The cultivation of vegetables, and all the different opera- 

 tions of agriculture and gardening, are taught by another 

 professor, with assistants, and exemplified by different com- 

 partments in the garden. For instance, there is one compart- 

 ment in which all the different operations on plants and on 

 the soil are exemplified, from the different modes of preparing, 

 the soil for sowing or planting, through all the species and 

 varieties of propagation, training, and pruning, even to hedge- 

 growing and fence-making; another compartment contains 



