464 THE PARKS AND GARDENS OF PARIS. [Chap. XXVI. 



done, we can ill afford to spend means and energy in the wrong 

 places. Frequently it will be expedient to leave things as they 

 are in the case of fairly well-formed gardens ; but in the case of 

 laying-out a new garden, it would certainly be better to separate 

 the fruits— large and small— wholly from the kitchen-garden; 

 also, all such plants as herbs which do not require deep or frequent 

 culture, all store or nursery beds which are often visited, frame- 

 ground, and plunging-beds, should be removed from it altogether. 

 Such walks as convenience demands might be made in the fruit 

 and other departments. The kitchen-garden itself might be 

 formed or sheltered in whatever way the needs of the place might 

 suggest. No walks should be seen in it ; it would, in fact, be 

 treated as one plot of ground in the highest state of culture to 

 which drainage, trenching, manure and water could bring it. 



A great deal of the success of the Parisian market-gardeners is 

 due to a close system of rotation, eight crops per year being 

 frequently gathered from the ground. Were it not so the culti- 

 vators could not succeed, so very limited is the ground each pos- 

 sesses. A considerable portion of the surface in one garden 

 I visited was devoted to Cos Lettuce, and very fine specimens 

 they were ; but beneath them there was a dark green carpet of 

 leaves very close to the ground — the leaves of the ScaroUe, which 

 forms such an excellent salad. The young plants have room to grow 

 now amongst the closely-tied-up Cos Lettuce ; but the moment 

 the Cos is cut for market, the ScaroUe has fuller liberty, and with 

 abundance of water soon itself covers the ground. Then perhaps 

 some young plants of another vegetable are put in at regular 

 intervals in the angles between four plants of ScaroUe, the new 

 crop being vigorous and halfway towards perfection when the 

 great smooth Endive is ready for the market. As an illustration 

 of the cropping, the cultivator described to me that of a portion 

 of his ground for the past year. In the earliest spring the ground 

 was occupied by Cos Lettuce, and from between them a crop of 

 Eadishes was gathered. Cauliflowers were planted early among 

 the Cos, and as they approached maturity the ground was of course 

 wholly occupied by them, as one could not well put anything 

 beneath a crop of well -grown Cauliflowers. When they were cut 

 in May and June, an opportunity occurred of giving the ground 

 that thorough culture and preparation which such a course of 



