MONTREUIL. 435 



ary marks of distinction which he had received as be- 

 ing an eminent Montreuil cultivator ; particularly a gold 

 ring from the Emperor Alexander of Russia, a medal from 

 the Agricultural Society for the department of the Seine, 

 and a letter and book presented to him by our patriotic 

 countryman Sir John Sinclair. 



M. Mairiette may be mentioned as another excellent cul- 

 tivator at Montreuil ; indeed, he is regarded by many as 

 fully on a par with Mozard, and he also lays claim to the 

 honour of being considered successor to old Pepin. M. 

 Savard is a third cultivator of great merit, and has very 

 extensive suites of garden-walls. 



We spent most of the day in this curious and pleasant 

 village, — where not a forest-tree is to be seen, but where 

 the horticultural eye is regaled with the view of many 

 thousands of peach-trees, and many hundreds of cherry, 

 plum, and apricot trees, and grape-vines. On every side, 

 beyond the walled gardens, vineyards extend to a consider- 

 able distance around the town. The fruit-gardeners of 

 Montreuil are all mere cultivators, and very much on a 

 footing of equality : no rich restaurateur has planted him- 

 self among them, or engrossed several gardens : Very, 

 Henneveau, Beauvilliers, Vefour, Champeaux, purchase 

 from them. They may all be considered as comparatively 

 poor, though most of them are in easy circumstances. 

 They have few wants : they raise vegetables in abundance 

 for the use of their own families, and they make their own 

 wine ; but on the paniers of peaches and of early cherries, 

 &c. sent to Paris, they almost solely depend for a return in 

 money, or an exchange of Parisian commodities. A large 

 peach-tree, in a favourable season, will yield from 250 to 

 400 peaches ; but the greater part of the trees being small, 

 do not afford more than from 50 to 150 fruit each tree. 

 The cultivators have, within the last two or three years, 



Ee2 



