138 THE PAEKS AND GARDENS OF PARIS. [Chap. IX. 



boulevard. The carriage-way might, at its northern end, turn 

 to the right and left, as at present ; but in a line with its straight 

 portion a broad footway of equal width to the straight carriage- 

 way should be opened through the Park-Crescent gardens into 

 the Eegent's Park. Such an improvement, if worthily carried 

 out, would be the grandest that could be effected in the park- 

 ways of London. It would, in some respects, -surpass even the 

 Champs Elysees themselves. Why the direct opening from Port- 

 land Place to the Eegent's Park should not have been effected 

 long ago is difficult to understand. Another fine opportunity for 

 an avenue occurs in Westbourne Terrace. From the Bishop's 

 Eoad to Hyde Park, in a direct line, a noble avenue of trees, 

 springing from a strip of turf, might be established, which would 

 produce a fine effect— unlike anything else in the metropolis. To 

 effect this, it would only be necessary to sweep away the paltry 

 lines of balustrades and the (so-called) shrubberies of mutilated 

 Lilacs and Privet bushes, and of irregularly-planted trees stunted 

 by reckless lopping, and establish in their place a stretch of 

 simple turf, in which detached trees and groups should be 

 planted. This treatment of the important thoroughfare in ques- 

 tion would so greatly add to its apparent spaciousness, and to 

 its beauty, that the value of the property would be at once greatly 

 increased. 



Naturally the features of the boulevards which command most 

 attention in this book are the trees that adorn them so well. 

 The planting in all the London parks is as nothing compared 

 to the avenue and boulevard planting in and around Paris. 

 Trained and pruned so as to form a symmetrical straight-ascend- 

 ing head, with a clean stem, every tree is protected by a slight 

 cast-iron or stick basket, and is staked when young, and when 

 old if necessary ; nearly every tree being also provided with a 

 cast-iron grating six feet wide or so, which effectually prevents 

 the ground from becoming hard about the trees in the most- 

 frequented thoroughfares, permits of any attention they may 

 require when young, and of abundance of water being quickly 

 given in summer. The expense for these strong and wide 

 gratings must be great, but the result that will be presented by 

 the trees a few years hence will more than repay for all the out- 

 lay by the grateful shade and beauty they will afford. As soon 



