o9S HORTICULTURAL TOUR. 



are relieved, when the buds arc swelling and ready to ex- 

 pand. 



In a sheltered spot, a sweet-orange tree has been plant- 

 ed 01 plchi vent, and allowed to spread its branches with 

 the freedom and elegance of nature. A gentlemen pre- 

 sent, who had been in Spain, informed us that this speci- 

 men was nearly of the average size of the orange-trees of 

 that country. To us it formed a novel and very pleasing 

 sight. During winter it is protected by a large temporary 

 wooden structure, similar to those just described, excepting 

 that some glazed frames are introduced for the admission of 

 light. There are also dispersed on the lawn a good many 

 healthy and luxuriant orange-trees in boxes, with their 

 heads clipped in the usual way. Some of these are per- 

 haps not inferior to the largest at the Tuileries gardens. 

 The calsses in which they are planted are square ; about 

 44 feet in breadth, by the same in height ; and have a 

 moveable pannel on one side, by means of which the state 

 of the roots can be examined, and the soil renewed or im- 

 proved when judged necessary. 



In the time of Josephine the flower-garden was among 

 the richest in Europe ; for that Empress was an unwearied 

 patroness of botanical collectors, who in their turn en- 

 riched the garden at La Malmaison with their vegetable 

 treasures. Here many plants new to the northern hemi- 

 sphere were first raised from seeds brought from Australa- 

 sia, by the navigator Baudin. These and other rarities 

 were figured and described by Ventenat, in a splendid 

 work entitled " Jardin de la Malmaison, " published about 

 the year 1803. Ten years afterwards, the celebrated bota- 

 nist Honpland, the companion of Humboldt in his travels, 

 published the first volume of a magnificent work, in folio, 

 Under the title of " Plantcs rares cultivees a Malmaison. r * 

 The work had been some years in preparation at a very 



