of a recent Continental Tour. 523 



with magnificent poplars, which cast their long reflections in 

 the still deep stream. Its whole course is a succession of beau- 

 ties : villages are thickly set upon its brink ; here an ancient 

 decaying chateau faces its long straightly planted chase to the 

 water, and, far beyond, some lofty minster raises its airy pin- 

 nacles amidst umbrageous woods. The nurseries at Rouen 

 are said to be worth visiting, particularly for their standard 

 roses ; an article so artificial, costly, and speedily dying, even 

 in the nursery, that I imagine they will soon cease to engage 

 the attention of our gardeners, especially as, with proper 

 management, engrafted roses may be grown as strong, and, 

 I think, to look as well. 



The best mode of management for standard roses I have 

 seen is that of Mr. M'Cabe, gardener to Mr. Lefroy, near 

 Dublin. A long semicircular hedge of sweet and dog briar, 

 partly surrounding a parterre, is cherished into strong upright 

 shoots, a succession of which is constantly maintained ; these 

 are budded, and those that die are immediately replaced by 

 budding on the vacant stocks. When in bloom, it is quite a 

 kaleidoscope of roses, of all hues and sizes. But to return : 

 I am sorry to say the French nurserymen are not the most 

 liberal : good carnations they have, therefore good seed ; but 

 good seed they will not give to an Englishman, if they know 

 him to be such. I myself got some seed only last year, from 

 Rouen, which professed to be wonders : it produced a fine 

 crop of single clove pinks. 



The road between Rouen and Paris is not very remarkable. 

 The hedges are clothed luxuriantly with the Clematis Viti- 

 cella and Bryonia alba, plants which grow freely on similar 

 calcareous soils in Britain ; but many others, unusual in 

 England, grow by the wayside. Flax is not an uncom- 

 mon crop in Normandy, but the Indian corn is seldom seen, 

 and never in perfection more northerly than sixty miles south 

 of Paris. 



Four years ago, the entire road from Rouen to Paris was a 

 chaussee, always a bad though a lasting kind of road ; now 

 nearly half of it is macadamised, and well too; a welcome 

 symptom of improvement. 



How much finer, in some respects, the entrance to Paris, 

 by any of the boulevards, is, than even the finest of the en- 

 trances to London ! How much finer the long rows of stately 

 elms, and luxuriant robinias, with quiet pathways, 



" A pillar'd shade, with echoing walks between," 



and the houses retired behind them, than our rows of lath 

 and plaster boxes, with little courts before them, just large 



