V10 HOKTiCULTUKAI. TOUR, 



National Nursery for fruit-trees, and as a school for gra- 

 tuitous instruction in horticulture. Under his patronage 

 the collection was subsequently improved and increased. 

 The Chartreux territory has evidently been much abridged, 

 in the course of improvements which have been made 

 on the gardens appropriated to the Luxembourg Palace ; 

 but still, inclosures of considerable extent, on both sides 

 of the grand avenue leading from the Palace to the Ob- 

 servatory, are set apart as national nurseries. M. Louis 

 Auguste Guillaume Bosc, Member of the Academy of 

 Sciences, well known for his horticultural writings in the 

 Encyclopedic Mcthodiquc, and as joint editor, along with 

 Tessicr, of the " Annales d 1 Agriculture," is Inspector or 

 principal director. I was unfortunate in not finding him 

 at this time, neither at his house, in Rue de Macons, Sor- 

 bonne, nor at the nurseries. But M. Hervy, the resident 

 and practical director, at once granted Mr Blaikie and me 

 permission to examine the whole. 



We first visited the general collection of mature fruit- 

 trees, called UEcole, occupying a triangular space of be- 

 tween four and five acres, situate on the east side of the 

 avenue,closeby the director's house. The ground seems sunk 

 many feet ; but this is owing to the Luxembourg terrace 

 having been elevated on the one side, and to the Hue d'En- 

 fer having been gradually raised on the other. We re- 

 marked that the lower half of the boundary-wall next to 

 tins street is ancient, while the upper half is modern, and 

 that the street is now on a level with the top of the old wall. 



\irapi -vines occupy a prominent part in this horti- 

 cultural school, the kinds being very numerous, and the 

 plants taking up a considerable proportion of the ground. 

 Hue are now assembled all the varieties of vine known 

 u> be cultivated in France, or, I may say, in Europe. 

 EVi th< ; ! ' -i my recollection, nearly ->0() varieties arc 



