The Public Gardens and Parks of Paris. 83 



readers, the whole thing is about as orderly as a crowd at a flower- 

 show. A little above this is the Rond Pont, a circular open space, 

 where a lot of avenues radiate, and in which there are large beds 

 for flowers, fountains, &c., disfigured, however, by the undulations 

 which some poor little bits of grass are made to assume. Object- 

 less and unnatural diversification of the ground and the lumping 

 together of too many things in one mass, are the weak points in the 

 gardening of Paris. Surely a better use could be made of the 

 beautiful variegated Acer negundo than putting many score plants 

 of it in one great pudding-like bed! They do the same thing 

 to some extent with the subtropical plants, but it is a fault which 

 must be cured some day in the natural order of things. The 

 best way to go to the Bois de Boulogne from the Arc de Triomphe 

 is along the grand Avenue de I'lmperatrice, which is bordered by 

 grass, trees, conifers, fine villas, gardens, &c., and is in itself worth 

 seeing. It leads straight to the Bois, the most fashionable of Parisian 

 parks. This should be seen by everybody ; and as La Muette at 

 Passy, the great propagating establishment spoken of elsewhere, lies 

 on its east side, there is no lack of horticultural interest in the 

 vicinity. 



The great arch is surrounded by an immense circular space, 

 from which straight boulevards and avenues radiate in all directions. 

 The guide-books advise the visitor to Paris to see the lamps lit 

 at night in the Champs Elysees, but if he should want to see the 

 finest effect of that kind, he must go to this arch of a dark night, 

 and standing in the centre look at tlieir effect in the great avenues, 

 which fall from where he stands, and afterwards walk round the 

 arch to see them better still. The whole scene around here is 

 magnificent, and highly suggestive of how a great city should be 

 laid out. If Paris had nothing worth seeing but what may be seen 

 from hence, it would well repay a visit to all persons interested in 

 the improvements of towns and cities. One of the avenues that 

 radiate from this great circle is the Avenue de la Reine Hortense, 

 and at its end may be seen large and handsome gilt gates ; they are 

 at the entrance to the 



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