420 Floral Fair at Marseilles^ 



the orangery in the botanic garden; some silk cloth was 

 made, and a fragment is still kept in the museum at Lund, of 

 a piece of it which was presented to the queen. No attempt 

 has been made to renew this plantation, which is now occu- 

 pied by trees of the ^^cer Pseudo-Platanus, introduced into 

 Sweden from Holland, in the year 1770. — J. P. P. 



Art. til Some Account of a Floral Fair held at Marseilles in 

 January, 1833, luith a List of the Plants there exhibited Jbr Sale. 

 By Viator. 



Sir, 



On passing through Marseilles, I was recommended to 

 attend a sort of floral fair, which is annually held on St. 

 Antony's day (the 17th of January), in the Place des Pre- 

 cheurs, but which this year had been transferred to the Place 

 Noailles, and the adjacent boulevards. St. Antony's day 

 has been set apart for this purpose, as falling about the time 

 best suited for the planting out of seedling onions, which are 

 brought in great quantities, principally from the little town 

 of Auriol, to this fair, instituted, probably, in early times, 

 solely for the sale of this vegetable. Another fair, said to be 

 still more considerable, is held on the public walk called the 

 Cours, on the Jour dcs Rois, or Twelfth Day : but which, I 

 regret, I was unable to attend. From ten to twelve thousand 

 trees, of different sorts, are disposed of at these two fairs. Much 

 other agricultural and horticultural business is transacted; 

 the nurserymen vie with each other in the quality and variety 

 of their collections, and the honest citizens of this great town 

 provide themselves with flowers and plants to decorate their 

 alcoves and verandas. A description, therefore, of that 

 which I attended, will give you a general idea of the state of 

 horticulture around the capital of Southern France. 



Armed with a pencil and paper, I carefully noted down all 

 the species of plants which were offered for sale, the prices 

 of the principal articles, and such other observations as I 

 was enabled to make. The list which I append cannot 

 pretend to be a catalogue of all the species cultivated in 

 Provence, but merely of those more usually in demand ; and, 

 as such, is indicative of considerable taste for horticultural 

 embellishment, though scarcely so much as might have been 

 expected in an opulent and flourishing community like that 

 of Marseilles. 



My expectations were not greatly raised. I was, therefore, 



