through Belgium and Part of France, 427 



Paris being considerable, there is, as it might be supposed, a 

 great variety of surface. The country, after leaving Lille, is flat 

 and well cultivated ; as you proceed, it becomes more undulated; 

 but there are neither rivers nor canals to be seen, as in Belgium. 

 In some places you pass large forests of underwood, that is cut 

 down every seven years or so, for fuel ; but a few trees are left 

 at irregular distances, to use as timber for building houses, &c. 

 The approach to Paris, in this direction, is very interesting, the 

 ground on each side of the road being nearly all laid out in 

 market-gardens, for supplying the Paris markets. There seems 

 to be but little neatness displayed in the keeping of these gardens, 

 and the vegetables show but very indifferently while growing in 

 what appear to be open fields. The nursery gardens in and 

 about Paris are very numerous ; but since the revolution they 

 have fallen much to decay. The first private garden I visited 

 was that of M. Boursault, once the finest in Paris, but now it is, 

 I am sorry to say, sunk almost to nothing ; owing, as I was in- 

 formed, to the deranged state of the proprietor's fortune. Most 

 of the plants are already sold, and those which remain are all 

 for sale ; among the latter is a splendid plant of Araucaria ex- 

 celsa [see fig. 33. IX. 14-7.], the tub of which is sunk deep in 

 the ground, the top of the plant touches the glass, and wants 

 room : the remainder are principally camellias, with some stove 

 plants. The beautiful range of houses on the south wall [IX. 

 fig. 34. J no longer exists ; its place is occupied by a trellis of 

 vines and peaches. The ground still remains in nearly the same 

 state, and is all, I was told, to be sold, if a purchaser can be 

 found. 



The nursery of M. Noisette is very extensive, and the plants, 

 generally, are in tolerable condition. His camellias are fine, and 

 the winding walk in the centre has a good effect. I found 

 nothing new ; as he said he could not sell expensive plants at 

 present, and could not, as a matter of course, he added, afford to 

 buy them. I ventured, however, to express to him my opinion, 

 that choice and newly introduced plants are more likely to yield 

 a profit than the more common and more familiarly known ones. 



The garden of M. Cels has suffered much since the death of 

 its late proprietor, but it still contains many choice and rare 

 plants, though few, if any, of the very newly introduced kinds. 

 The two young MM. Cels seem to be very intelligent men, and 

 to be extremely anxious to keep up the reputation so long 

 enjoyed by their late father. I visited the establishments of 

 many other nurserymen, as those of MM. Fion, Lemon, Jaquin 

 freres, seedsmen ; M. Vandael, and several others ; but I did 

 not find, in these places, any thing worth mentioning. The last 

 place I visited was that of M. Soulange-Bodin, at Fromont on 

 the Seine, who has an extensive garden and grounds (I should 



