Gardens and Nurseries at Lyons. 117 



pipes under ground, and a steam-engine raises water, which 

 supplies these casks, as well as irrigates the surface. When 

 the steam-engine is not employed in raising water for the 

 garden, it puts in motion machinery for manufacturing purposes. 

 Manure is used in this garden to the value of between 3000 

 and 4000 francs annually, and it is moved within the garden 

 on light portable iron railroads, by means of small waggons 

 pushed by men. Asparagus and artichokes are forced in the 

 open garden, by placing the manure over them, or between the 

 rows or beds. Melons are grown to a great extent, and an 

 extensive range of cellars is devoted to the growth of mush- 

 rooms, which, as already mentioned, are sent to the Lyons 

 market throughout the whole year. Mushrooms are also 

 grown in the open air on ridges, under sheds, and in a large 

 house, where, during summer, the interior is darkened by 

 tomatoes trained under the roof. This forcing-house is heated 

 from the steam-engine. The cost of this garden is about 10,000 

 francs yearly, but the melons alone, in 1836, produced 70,000 

 francs. 



M. Girard's Nursery, at Guillotiere, is celebrated for seedling 

 plants, both of trees and culinary vegetables. As many as 

 30,000 cabbage plants have sometimes been sold here daily in 

 the planting season. The variety which at present is con- 

 sidered the best, is called le petit Cabus Guillotin. 



The Nursery of M. Sedy, at St. Just, contains, near the house, a 

 MagnolzVz acuminata, the largest in the department of the Rhone. 

 It is 12 metres (39J ft.) in height, the branches are 8 metres 

 (26j ft.) in circumference, and the trunk 1 metre (3 ft. 3 in.) in 

 circumference. It has borne a great many seeds for many 

 years. There is a specimen of Cupressus sinensis Desf., the 

 weeping cypress of China, grafted on the Taxodium distichum, 

 which has stood the winter for four or five years. [We should 

 like much to have a specimen of this plant.] There are several 

 stoves and green-houses, and a good collection in both. The 

 Vanilla aromatica grows vigorously on the bark of pieces of 

 wood, and six species of Ficus are in a thriving state. The 

 list of hot-house and green-house plants in this nursery is very 

 considerable, and includes no small proportion of the more rare 

 species in British gardens. There is an Enca. abietina thirty 

 years old, and Uvularia mexicana has ripened fruit. Wistan'a 

 sinensis has been extensively propagated. There are thirty 

 varieties of camellia, and fifteen of the orange. There are a 

 tulip tree with rose-coloured young shoots ; a Gleditschm 

 macracantha Dec. with drooping branches; twenty different 

 sorts of Magnolz'a; Mespilus tanacetifolia Poiret (Crataegus 

 tanacetifolia of Arboretum Britannicum), the fruit of which is de- 

 scribed as eatable ; a mountain ash with white berries ; with a 



i 3 



