222 



PART III. 



MISCELLANEOUS INTELLIGENCE. 



Art. I. Foreign Notices. 



FRANCE. 



" Sir, — I accept with pleasure the proposition which you have made to 

 me, of giving you from time to time some remarks on the state and progress 

 of horticulture in France, and I feel myself much flattered that you think 

 me worthy of assisting you in your ardent and useful work. The^ success 

 of your attempt to give to a branch of industry hitherto too imperfectly 

 explored, a direction more precise, and an elevation quite new, cannot fail 

 to contribute to the amelioration of society generally ; and that amelio- 

 ration has been and is the constant end of the wishes and the efforts of good 

 men of all ages and of all countries. 



It has become a proverb that Tourame, that fine province which has so 

 many allurements for your countrymen, is the Garden of France. It might 

 be added with more truth, that France is the garden of Europe. What a 

 genial mildness of temperature ! What a variety in the seasons ! What 

 richness and diversity of produce ! What great and admirably disposed 

 geographical advantages in respect to shelter ! What a fine climate and 

 what fine harvests ! But although Touraine sends her confitures to all 

 countries, — although the fleets of Isere convey the fruits of its fertile 

 valleys as far as the shores of America*; although Normandy so often regales 

 the Great Isle with its vessels loaded with apples ; although Burgundy now 

 prides herself in seeing her grapes ripen in the climate of New Holland f ; 

 how far short we come both to ourselves and to others of improving the 

 bounties of nature ! The less they cost us the less care do we take of them ! 

 The walnut and the olive, the orange and the grape, come voluntarily to 

 be placed upon our tables. Hardly has spring relieved the blossoms which 

 were ready to burst forth, than the cherry, the gooseberry, and the straw- 

 berry redden in our sight : the snow still covers the mountains, and yet 

 tender and delicate herbs are already strewed on the plain. Winter ap- 

 proaches ; it besets our metropolis ! In Provence the last rays of an 

 autumnal sun ripen there herbs and fruits, the late enjoyment of which is 

 not less agreeable than that of the earliest productions of spring ; and the 

 violet of Montpellier crowns the banquet-cup, which we can still fill like 

 you with excellent beer, if we have not, like you, the taste of giving the 

 preference to Champagne. 



It is, therefore, only necessary to put in action so many elements of pros- 

 perity ; and to do this, nothing is wanting but the will. It is to this that I 



* Every year cargoes of fruit grown in the vale of Gresivandan, are sent 

 from Grenoble to the United States. 



f Wine has been drank at Port Jackson, made there from grapes grown 

 on plants sent from Burgundy. 



