Le Bon Jardinier. 59 



the present editors, who are practical men of established reput- 

 ation. 



M. Poiteau, who edits the Bon Jardinier for the first time, 

 informs us, that, after having gone through and practised 

 almost every branch of culture, he has arrived at that age at 

 which a man finds out, " qu'il ne sait pas grand chose," how 

 very little he knows, and he will, therefore, be very thankful for 

 any information that may be offered him, with a view of render- 

 ing the Bon Jardinier more perfect. After some cavilling at the 

 rival works " L'Annuaire du Jardinier et de l'Agronome," and 

 " Manuel du Jardinier," he commences with an account of 

 the principal nurseries about Paris. 



The establishment of M. Cels at Mont-Rouge originated 

 in 1787, by M. Cels, senior, who was succeeded by his son, 

 the present proprietor, in 1808. It is a nursery both of 

 rare plants and expert gardeners. M. Louis Noisette esta- 

 blished his nursery in 1802: pupils from his garden are 

 spread over every part of the world. In 1822, M. Soulange- 

 Bodin, of Fromont, on the road to Fontainebleau, trans- 

 formed his garden into an extensive and rich nursery ; he 

 had long been collecting plants as an amateur, with the inten- 

 tion of one day devoting himself to their propagation for the 

 purposes of commerce, and he has now realised his project. 

 About 1812, M.Noel began to expose in the Marche-aux- 

 fleurs, the finest sorts of roses worked on tall stems of briar. 

 The process was known before, but M. Noel brought it to a high 

 degree of perfection, and has since continued a principal cul- 

 tivator of roses. In 181 3, M. Fion began to devote himself 

 to the culture, of orange trees by planting a row of them 

 against a wall, which has succeeded perfectly, and is one of the 

 finest things of the kind near Paris. This cultivator has a very 

 complete collection of the species and varieties of the genus 

 citrus. About 1816, M. Lemon began to spread a taste in Paris 

 for the finer sorts of geraniums, and his stand in the flower- 

 market continues to be distinguished by a display of these 

 flowers. 



Respecting rare and curious plants, it was not till 1 798 

 that the hydrangia (l'hortensia) began to be cultivated in the 

 open air by M. Audibert. This cultivator purchased two 

 plants for twelve francs from Mr. Williams at Sevres., who 

 had introduced it ten years before; he planted them in peat, 

 first in the bed of a conservatory, and afterwards in a shady 

 border in the open air, and the following year he was rewarded 

 by their producing heads of flowers from twenty inches to two 



