76 The Public Gardens and Parks of Paris. 



progress for a few years at their present rate. In Paris the public 

 gardens and all that relates to them are as a rule admirably managed 

 and kept ; faults they have, to be sure, to an English eye, but on 

 the whole they are magnificent. And as the example shown in this 

 way should be followed, so far as means will permit, in every town 

 or city, it may be useful to walk through them with the reader, 

 pointing out, as far as possible in a hurried way, their most instructive 

 features. Any passing visitor to Paris may see the public gardening, 

 however difficult it may be to see the market and fruit gardens, 

 and therefore a description which may help him may be useful 

 here. To begin, we had better consider for a moment that the 

 gardens of Paris are under different boards of management, if we 

 may so speak. Thus the gardens of the Luxembourg, the Tuileries, 

 and other palaces, with the Jardin des Plantes, have each their own 

 superintendents, and have nothing to do with what we may call the 

 Municipality of Paris, nor are they supplied from its great nursery. 

 La Muette. On the other hand, the Pare Monceau, the Bois de 

 Boulogne, the great belt of gardens on each side of the Champs 

 Elysees, and aU the squares, &c., belong to La Ville de Paris, and 

 are managed by it. In endeavouring to give the reader a concise 

 idea of Paris gardens, and which may act as a guide to him, I will 

 commence in the Place du Carrousel, the great square between the 

 Louvre and Tuileries, and afterwards walk into the outer gardens of 



The Louvre. 



The eastern part of this square is narrower, in consequence 

 of the projection into it of tlie splendid buildings of the new 

 Louvre, thus projected in consequence of a difference in the line of 

 standing of the two palaces ; and in this part of the square, called 

 the Place Napoleon III., there are two pretty little gardens sur- 

 rounded by railings with gilt spears, and they will give the visitor 

 an idea how the gardens of Paris are kept. They simply display 

 trees and evergreens, grass as green as could be desired, ivy edgings, 

 and they look like oases in the centre of the great palace-surrounded 

 square. A word or two about the grass in Paris gardens. It is 



