CuAP. XIV.] THE GARDENS OP VERSAILLES. 205 



The Orangery here, in a sunk garden to the south of the Palace 

 and the Parterre du Midi, is probably the most extensive known. 

 It is massively built in the face of a terrace, and is more than 

 thirteen hundred feet long by thirty-six wide. It is an 

 immense archway lighted at one side. The collection of Orange- 

 trees here is very large ; but as we have already discussed this 

 unhappy phase of horticulture in the Tuileries gardens, little need 

 be said here. The trees are usually placed in the open air about 

 the 15th of May, and are taken under cover not later than the 15th 

 of October, so that they only enjoy the free air and sun for five 

 months out of the twelve. In addition to the Orange-trees, a few 

 other exotics are kept in this structure in winter, and submitted 

 to the same treatment as the Orange-trees at other seasons. 

 These are Justieia Adhatoda, Olea angustifolia, Jasminum 

 azoricum, and Edwardsia grandiflora. They seem to do re- 

 markably well under the treatment usually given to Orange-trees 

 on the Continent, and the Justieia and Jasminum, and perhaps 

 the others, are more worthy of being thus grown than the Orange, 

 since they display their fine flowers in the open air in summer, 

 and are less costly than when grown in stoves or conservatories. 

 The specimens of the Madeira Jasmine are very fine : the rich 

 green shoots drooping gracefully and bearing abundance of 

 flowers. The Justieia and others are said to flower abundantly 

 in tkeir seasons. Considering the success which attends the 

 culture of the Oleander and the sweet-scented Pittosporum under 

 like circumstances, and even when preserved in cellars during the 

 winter, this would seem to point to the desirability of adopting this 

 system, or a modification of it. With us the nearest thing to it is 

 the practice of putting handsome evergreens in tubs for placing in 

 terrace-gardens, etc. But surely it is scarcely worth while doing 

 this with things that we see in every shrubbery ! If we do go to 

 the expense of growing plants in boxes in the open air, it is 

 best to select those that will not bear the cold of our winters, but 

 which grow well out of doors in summer. 



Few spots at Yersailles will please more than the garden or 

 Bosquet du Eoi, near the Orangery ; and simply because the 

 artificial look, the stonework, and want of repose characterising 

 the greater part of Versailles, are here absent. It is a sweep of 

 grass, surrounded by handsome trees, with a few flower-beds and 



