The Public Gardens and Parks of Paris. 77 



kept perfectly neat and fresh at all times, in the very heart of the 

 city ; and even through the winter it looks as green as an emerald. 

 They give it a top-dressing of fine and well decomposed manure 

 with leaf-mould in April, and it is thoroughly and frequently 

 watered with the hose in summer. Doubtless they would have 

 a garden in the centre of the Place du Carrousel also, were it not 

 that the traffic across it from the Rue de Rivoli to the quai and the 

 bridges on the river side, and which enters in through arches on 

 each side, is so great. Then by passing through the great court of 

 the Louvre and out on the eastern side the visitor may see the 

 garden of the Louvre, which is simply a rail-surrounded space, laid 

 out with the usual very green and well-kept grass, round-headed 

 bushes of lilac, ivy edgings, evergreen shrubs here and there, 

 flowers, both spring and summer, and the best, cheapest, prettiest, 

 and most lasting edgings in use in any garden, made of cast-iron in 

 imitation of bent sticks. Much of this garden was once covered 

 with old buildings and streets — even the great square just spoken of 

 was once packed with alleys, but the recent improvements of Paris 

 have swept all those things away, and on every side the buildings 

 stand as free as could be desired, unlike our London ones, some 

 of which can hardly be discovered, and which when they have 

 an enclosed space around them, it is merely a receptacle for dead 

 cats, &c. Numerous seats are placed against the walls of the 

 palace, and the gardens, though not large, oiFer a very agreeable 

 retreat to invalids, children, and others during all but the colder 

 months. 



The main feature of the flower gardening is a modification of tlie 

 mixed border system, pretty, and also capable of infinite change. 

 This is the plan of the Louvre borders. It is a combination of circle, 

 and mixture, and ribbon, quite unpractised with us. Along the 

 middle of the borders we have a line of permanent and rather 

 large-growing things — roses, dahlias, neat bushes of Althaea frutex, 

 and small Persian lilacs. The lilacs might be thought to grow too 

 gross for such a position, but by cutting them in to the heart as soon 

 as they have done flowering the bedding plants start with them on 



