FRUIT AND KITCHEN GARDENS NEAR PARIS. 



195 



that might reasonably be anticipated, viz., a temporary reduction 

 of grossness in the foliage whilst the new leaves are forming in 

 the ensuing spring ; with an acquisition of fresh young fibres by 

 the time the greatest demand is made on the energies of the plant, 

 viz., the swelling period of the fruit. Indeed, such good results 

 have I ever found to follow this practice, that I am of opinion 

 that a plot of strawberries may be kept in tolerable prosperity for 

 many years by thus annually digging and manuring. 



XXXI. — Report on the Fruit and Kitchen Gardens near 

 Paris, from observations made during a Visit in the Spring 

 of 1847. By Mr. Robert Thompson, Superintendent of the 

 Orchard and Kitchen Garden. 



The Garden Committee having considered it desirable that I 

 6hould proceed to France for the purpose of reporting to the 

 Council what I might observe most worthy of notice in the 

 fruit and kitchen gardens there, it was deemed expedient that I 

 should proceed thither early in the spring, on account of seeing 

 the operations of pruning and training, as well as to embrace 

 the opportunity of availing myself of the important assistance of 

 Mr. Francis Rauch, which might have been lost by delay : the 

 period of his stay at Paris being then uncertain. Having re- 

 sided four years in and near Paris for the purpose of accurately 

 observing everything connected with horticulture, he was 

 eminently qualified for the task he kindly undertook of con- 

 ducting me to places most important to be seen in regard to the 

 object of my mission, and likewise for obtaining the best 

 possible information, on all essential points, from the various 

 horticulturists whose establishments we visited. 



I accordingly went from London to Southampton by railway, 

 February 27th, and sailed the same evening for Havre, where I 

 arrived next morning. Here there was little to be seen inter- 

 esting in a horticultural point of view. I observed, in passing 

 through the market, some good specimens of the Easter Beurre 

 Pear, exposed for sale under the names of Bergamotte de la 

 Pentecote and Doyenne d'Hiver. This, with some Old Col- 

 mars, St. Germains, and Catillacs, were the only kinds of Pears 

 worthy of notice. Of Apples they had some good Reinettes du 

 Canada, which they call Reinette du Canada, or Reinette de 

 Bretagne ; some Nonpareils, Reinette Grise, Pigeonet, Reinette 

 Franche, Reinette de Caux, or Belle Reinette de Caux, a very 

 handsome variety, and, from being generally exposed, its cul- 

 tivation must be rather extensive in this part of Normandy. 



