612 NOTES OF A HORTICULTURAL TOUR. 



the firm ; were it not so, the expense would prove too great 

 to admit of this mode of culture. 



There is a specimen of Cedrus atlantica, about thirty- 

 feet high, a graceful open tree, quite silvery, and dotted all 

 over with little nipple-like male cones — one solitary and 

 large female cone standing alone amongst them. It is 

 found to grow very much faster than the Cedar of Lebanon 

 in these grounds, and is so beautiful as to recommend itself 

 to every lover of Conifers. Some plants grown indoors in 

 England do very well here out of doors — Poinciana Gilliesi 

 and Lagerstrcemia indica being particularly beautiful in 

 July. Bambusa mitis grows very freely, and has here 

 proved the best of the hardy Bamboos. The culture of 

 fruit trees against walls is far from satisfactory. It would 

 appear that the fine climate affords an excuse for careless- 

 ness in this respect ; but I made slight efforts to see 

 the fruit culture of the district, as the climate is so unlike 

 our own that observations made in it are not at all so 

 applicable to our own culture as those gathered in the colder 

 parts of France. 



The public garden here is a purely scientific institution, 

 directed by M. Boreau, a botanist well known for his 

 knowledge of European plants. He is particularly fond 

 of the wild French Koses, and described one of his own 

 finding (R. conspicua) as the most beautiful and showy 

 of all the wild Roses. Another interesting native plant 

 was an unusually large and vigorous Solomon's Seal, named 

 Polygonum intermedium — a subject that would repay culti- 

 vation. St. Dabeoc's Heath, found in Connemara, in Ire- 

 land, occurs in a wood about fifteen miles from this city. 



The nurseries of M. Louis Leroy, in the Route de Paris, 

 are also very extensive, though most of his ground is at a 

 considerable distance from the town. The standard Mag- 

 nolias in this nursery are excellent, and a singular graceful 

 Conifer (Taxodium sinensis) claims attention from its novelty. 

 A specimen of Wellingtonia here, only eleven years of 

 age, is superb — twenty-five feet high, and a noble tree in 

 every respect. There is a small public fruit garden in the 

 town, quite recently planted, and promising to be useful 



