of a; recent Continental Tour, 525 



would get fall work- -idHPftris and the departments. There 

 have been considerable additions of Australian plants to the 

 Jardin des PJantes since I visited it, four years ago, but not 

 many of other kinds. 



Much might be said of the publicity of such institutions as 

 this in France, and their exclusiveness in England; but much 

 has been said, and the evil is the same : so that I fear it is 

 connected with our national character ; and, until that is 

 changed, the exclusiveness will remain. 



The last expedition to Algiers has enriched the garden 

 with a large number of lions and tigers, noble specimens. 



I was fortunate enough to see the waterworks play at Ver- 

 sailles the day after the commemoration of the " Trois Jour- 

 nees " [three days] of July, 1830. 



Unless the gardens at Versailles are filled with an immense 

 crowd, and the waterworks playing, they are the very abode 

 of dreary splendour. Nothing can be conceived more melan- 

 choly and monotonous: this, I think, chiefly arises from the great 

 space seen over at once, and the perfectly symmetrical ar- 

 rangement. In fine, every thing, individually, at Versailles is 

 costly and fine ; and, viewed as a national production, is worthy 

 the " grand monarque ;" but, with few exceptions, it presents 

 more lavish expense than good taste. Amongst those few 

 exceptions are the orangery, and the back facade of the 

 palace. There are some orange trees of great size, and of 

 remarkably fine form, in the orangery, said to be above four 

 hundred years old : their trunks are about 9 in. in diameter. 



Although the public gardens of Paris so abound in orange 

 trees, the Parisians have but little advantage of their delicious 

 odour when in flower, as all their blossoms are sold annually 

 to the perfumers. The new suspension bridge over the Seine, 

 the " Pont d'Arcole," although not strictly a gardener's con- 

 cern, is worthy of notice. Instead of the chains passing over 

 two piers, one on each side of the river, and the bridge thus 

 consisting of one catenary and two semi-catenaries, there is 

 one pier built in the centre of the river, and the whole bridge 

 consists only of two semi-catenaries : thus, when this construc- 

 tion is practicable, about one half the cost of the bridge is 

 saved. 



In passing through the interior of France, on the road to 

 Geneva, the small and narrow strips of land into which the 

 law of inheritance divides territorial property are very remark- 

 able. Whether this is advantageous or not is, I think, to be 

 questioned. The want of a rural population and of a resi- 

 dent gentry is too obvious : the whole country is, as it were, 

 a waste of agriculture and forest, scarcely any pasture, and 

 almost no country houses. A striking difference between the 



