Foreign Notices. — France. 223 



cheerfully devote the remainder of my life. It must be confessed, that for 

 the last thirty years great obstacles have presented themselves to the simple 

 cares which the earth demands. I shall not retrace the sad picture of the 

 past, — alike by the beaters and the beaten, the statues of Flora and 

 Pomona were quickly thrown down, and substituted by that of Bellona. 

 The Germans have encamped in my garden. I have encamped in the 

 gardens of the Germans ; and it was with sword in hand that I visited the 

 botanical collections of Schdnbrunn (Vienna) ; Schauenburg, (near Minden); 

 Stuttgard, and Petrowskoi (Moscow). I have said of others, as they have 

 said of me, Barbaras pei\segetes ! It had doubtless been better for both 

 parties to have staid at home and planted their cabbages. We are returned 

 there, and the rising taste for gardening becomes one of the most agreeable 

 guarantees of the repose of the world. 



But man needs examples, precepts, and stimulants ; and his natural weak- 

 ness is such, that even in the road which conducts him to his happiness 

 he requires to be supported and encouraged. In the great political period 

 which has preceded our restoration, a woman placed herself at the head 

 of France ; the graces much more than power attracted arts around her, 

 and Malmaison was created. Berthauer designed the gardens, Bon- 

 pland formed the collection, and directed its culture, and Redoute - lent his 

 pencil to aid in its description ; these names will give some idea of the 

 horticultural miracles which were performed at Malmaison in three years. 

 All has disappeared ; — to the pomp of exotic vegetation has succeeded the 

 pomp of funerals, and of that, which Racine would have'called the reign of 

 a moment, there remains no more than an obscure monument in a village 

 church. But let us accept of the happy presages of Villeneuve, L'Etang, 

 and Rosin. * These promise to throw a new lustre round agriculture and 

 botany. I hope to recount to you in detail the labours which a taste for 

 these arts has already executed ; and I shall not forget the Escalero (stair- 

 case) of St. Cloud covered with peaceable laurels, placed there for the 

 amusement of the royal child. 



Amongst the private gentlemen who have devoted their leisure to horti- 

 culture, Mr. Doublat of the Vosges, Mr. Boursault of Paris, and the Baron 

 de Papenheim near Fromont, may be mentioned as among the most zealous 

 of these latter times. Mr. Doublat has formed, on a mountain, near Epinal, 

 a garden open to the public, which combines extensive distant prospects of 

 a bold and wild country, with home scenery enriched with the choicest 

 exotic trees, shrubs, and plants. The Baron de Papenheim had succeeded 

 in forming on his estate of Combe-la-Ville a collection of more than 4000 

 species of hardy plants, of which he was going to print a very interesting 

 catalogue, when he was lost to botany. This excellent man persevered in 

 making essays on the acclimating of plants, some of which have succeeded. 

 As to Mr. Boursault, he is as well known at London as at Paris, by his en- 

 lightened taste, and the magnificence of his collection. It is in his garden 

 alone that the Telopea speciosissima has been seen in France. The Laurus 

 cinnamomum, cinnamon tree ; the Garcinia mangostana, and the Ardisia 

 paniculata, have produced with him flowers and fruits. He possesses, 

 without doubt, the finest Araucaria excelsa, Brazilian pine, of Europe. 

 The large plants of Magnolia grandiflora, which border his walks, bring 

 their seeds to perfect maturity ; he is almost the only man who has a taste 

 for rare plants. Commerce is greatly indebted to him ; and all Paris 

 knows, that in a fete which he gave last winter, all the ladies received, on 

 entering the saloon, a nosegay, composed of different sorts of camellia. 

 Doubtless every person cannot display such botanical rarities. But we have 



* Seats of Madame la Dauphine, and of Madame la Duchesse de Berry. 



