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CHAPTER III. 

 The Garden of Plants. 



This garden, the botanic garden of 

 Paris, and one of the most famous 

 in the world, is the type of all that 

 is stupid and harmful to horticul- 

 ture in the botanic gardens of 

 Europe. It is pedantry in the full 

 sun — mismanagement posing as 

 science. We must not seek here 

 for much of the beauty of the veget- 

 able kingdom: the systems adopted 

 steal that away. Clipped lines of 

 wretched trees; wide, needless 

 walks ; wretched culture ; over- 

 crowding of plants in the houses ; 

 overcrowding of trees from the 

 endeavour to squeeze them into narrow beds to illustrate classifi- 

 cation ; absence of all design calculated to allow the garden to 

 retain any beauty of grove or lawn or spring ; in a word, every 

 depressing feature of the worst-managed botanic gardens is seen 

 here. It is the natural result of placing at the head of such an 

 establishment a person with no knowledge of or sympathy with 

 the art he is supposed to cultivate ; while under him are placed 

 men whose efforts under the system are powerless for good. 



Shall our public gardens be managed by men thoroughly con- 

 versant with the art of gardening, or by those who frequently 

 have no knowledge whatever of it, and whose work is in other fields ? 

 Horticulture is an art embodying so many branches that it is 



