476 State of Gardening in France : — Amiens. 



some preparations for planting potatoes, although spade culture 

 appeared to be very generally adopted. 



The ancient town of Amiens is the centre of an extensive 

 agricultural district. The botanic garden here is small, and 

 apparently not very well supported. Its situation is by no 

 means a fit one, as it is immediately surrounded by the manu- 

 factories of the neighbourhood ; and the soil is apparently in- 

 different and exhausted. The plants are arranged, according to 

 the Linnaean system, in compartments; and a careful attention 

 is paid to their divisions into their respective classes, which are 

 carefully indicated by their names, and not, as is generally done 

 with us, by numbers, which it requires a reference to the cata- 

 logue of the collection to explain. 



As I happened to be at Amiens on the market day (Saturday), 

 I took the opportunity of devoting the morning to the inspection 

 of the markets for vegetables and flowers. I was certainly much 

 disappointed at the display, which was anything but abundant. 

 The advantages of the climate are not, apparently, taken advan- 

 tage of by the cultivators, or they might certainly boast (in May) 

 of many articles which I did not observe. All I could find 

 were a few cabbage lettuces, some long white or Naples radishes, 

 and a small quantity of asparagus; which naturally surprised 

 me, as I had only a few days before left the environs of Covent 

 Garden Market, in which all these articles, with many others 

 not to be found here, were to be had in the greatest abundance. 

 I enquired if there was any particular reason for this deficiency, 

 and could not learn that either the season was later or the sup- 

 plies less than usual. The weather had been, as with us at the 

 same period, warm and genial, and the winter had also been 

 mild and free from frost. I could not spare the time necessary 

 for an investigation of the causes of the apparent deficiency of 

 supply, by examining the gardens and systems of culture of the 

 gardeners, most of whom live at a short distance from Amiens. 



As there are, however, some florists' gardens within the limits 

 of the city, I visited them. The spaces of ground which they 

 occupy are generally small ; seldom exceeding a French arpent, 

 a quantity nearly equal to the English acre. As a general taste 

 for flowers prevails in Amiens and its neighbourhood, the florist- 

 gardeners meet with encouragement, and, consequently, are suc- 

 cessful in their business, and evince a considerable degree of 

 taste in it. Showy and fragrant plants are most in demand, 

 and the cultivators necessarily confine themselves to these, filling 

 up their space by forcing (though very slightly) melons for the 

 market. The plants usually cultivated are free-blooming pelar- 

 goniums, oleanders, dwarf standard roses, Cactese (especially the 

 Cereus ^hyllanthoides and speciosissimus), and others. These 

 are more particularly considered as plantes, d'agrSnens, rather 



