Chap. XXXIL] CLIMATE. 539 



flower-markets are not in permanent buildings, but occupy spaces 

 wbich may be compared to that in Trafalgar-square— the plants 

 being placed in groups on the gravel or flags, and the flowers and 

 choicer plants under temporary tents. "When the market is over, 

 the space is cleared. In the great central market and in the 

 minor markets there are also rows of stalls for flowers ; shops 

 vending them are numerous, and occasionally a solitary stand with 

 abundance of them is seen here and there in the streets. 



To the already well-known flower-markets, that against the 

 new Hotel Dieu is an important addition made since the war. It 

 is well worth the attention of all interested in city-markets, from 

 its simplicity of plan and fitness for the end in view. Beneath a 

 young and healthy plantation of Paulownia-trees are arranged 

 neat, permanent stands with cast-iron supports and zinc roofs ; 

 the paths and roads between are of asphalte and perfectly clean. 

 In spring and summer, when the weather will permit, quantities 

 of flowers are exposed in the uncovered spaces, and the roads and 

 quays near are on market-days covered with whole nurseries of 

 plants, shrubs, and young trees. As the market is a large and 

 well-supplied one, the scene is a pleasant one on market-mornings. 

 When it is over, the market-place forms a desirable open space kept 

 in perfect order, and as it is cooled in summer by the shade of the 

 large leaves of the Paulownia, it is probably as useful to the sur- 

 rounding inhabitants as a square would be. The regular flower- 

 markets are held at the Place de la Madeleine, the Chateau d'Eau, 

 the Quai aux Fleurs, and in the Place St. Sulpice— twice weekly 

 in each place. 



The Climates of Paris and London compared. — Devoted to his 

 institutions, the Briton is generally very hard on his climate. If 

 anything remarkable in the way of vegetable-produce comes out 

 of other lands, the merit is not sought in the system or the culti- 

 vator, but in the fine climate, while all our own shortcomings are 

 accounted for by climate, so that even those who heap most abuse 

 upon it should be grateful to it for settling so many questions. 

 But those who have lived in Paris during the winter or spring 

 will not be under any such illusion, and will probably begin to 

 suspect that there is at least one other climate in the world as 

 little like that of Paradise as is our own. Even of those who have 

 visited Paris many are under the impression that for clearness, 



