THE MARKET GARDENS OF PARIS. 465 



two men being nearly always employed at it in each little 

 garden during the sunny months. 



The system of watering with the hose, generally adopted 

 in the city of Paris, could not fail to attract the attention of 

 the market gardeners : it is already used by several of them, 

 the old system of pots and tubs being done away with. In 

 these cases the pump is again employed to elevate the water 

 to a cistern placed a few yards above the highest point of 

 the garden, and near the manure heaps and sheds of the 

 establishment. I examined a garden thus arranged, and 

 found the system very satisfactory. Twenty-seven outlets 

 for the water were established over the surface of a garden 

 about two acres in extent. To these a hose of india-rubber 

 is attached, with a few feet of copper tubing and a large 

 profusely perforated copper distributor or rose at its other 

 end. From this, when the water is put on, it flows in a gentle 

 but dense shower ; and the apparatus may be managed by 

 aVoman or a boy. The hose is not on little wheels as is the 

 one used in the roads and parks, nor can it be by any means 

 or in any shape dragged over the growing crops that occupy 

 every inch of the ground except the very narrow alleys 

 between the squares or large beds; therefore there is a little 

 contrivance to facilitate its use without injuring any of the 

 plants. The outlet, we will say, is on an alley crossing the 

 garden, and the operator wishes his hose to play say thirty 

 feet from the outlet, and up one of the narrow footways 

 that leads from the alley. Three little wooden rollers held 

 together on one piece of iron enable him to do this. The 

 following simple diagram will explain it : j^" . There is a 

 little wooden roller on the cross bar, and one short one 

 with a margin on each of the upper limbs — the lower points 

 form the teeth, and are stuck in the earth. Through this, 

 placed at the mouth of the alley, the india-rubber hose glides 

 as easily as a snake, without hurting a leaf. The mechanical 

 arrangement of each outlet is such that a twist of the base 

 of the hose which fits it is made to turn the water off or on 

 in an instant. This very satisfactory apparatus cost its 

 owner about 3000 francs. Having his own pump there is 

 nothing to pay for the water. 



H H 



