158 



ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



The commoner kinds of fruit, as cherries, mulberries, walnuts, 

 strawberries, and raspberries, grow on the mountains, on the road- 

 side, or by every ditch or waste piece of ground ; so that even in 

 bad years the proprietor has a constant supply without any pains, 

 and in good years he merely gathers the best, and lets every one, 

 after he is served, take what he pleases. In fact travellers, or 

 indeed every passer-by, help themselves for the most part without 

 any let or hinderance. The orchard is almost exclusively devoted 

 to the cultivation of plums (which are grown in enormous quan- 

 tities) for drying, a process which is performed on hurdles in a 

 low-heated oven. The varieties, however, in cultivation are very 

 inferior to those which yield the better kinds of French plums of 

 commerce. A few pears and apples are grown, but of very infe- 

 rior quality. "Wall-fruit is unknown. It cannot be expected, 

 therefore, that much attention should be devoted to the kitchen- 

 garden, though a few hotbeds, as in England, are made for the 

 rearing of brinjals and other plants which require to be brought 

 forward artificially. The better kinds of melons and cucumbers 

 are grown on the open ground in the garden, while the large 

 coarser kinds and water-melons (which are of excellent quality) 

 are consigned to the field. Cabbages, carrots, the different kinds 

 of kidney beans, some of which are of very superior quality, and a 

 few other vegetables have garden culture. A very small kind of 

 pulse, known under the name of rice-beans, used frequently for 

 soup, and belonging apparently to the genus Dolichos, with one or 

 two other subtropical varieties, is an object of cultivation. Fruit- 

 trees, with the exception of a few apricots and plums, are for the 

 most part excluded ; as regards those beyond the pale, scarcely 

 anything is done in the way of pruning beyond chopping off the ^ 

 dead or useless branches, which takes place in April. 



The flower-garden is of far more importance, and is in general 

 large and laid out in beds of various shapes in the midst of a lawn, 

 which is, however, not kept close-shaved as in England, but is 

 mowed three times only in the year, as the proprietor depends on 

 the grass-plots for the maintenance of his cows in summer, the 

 meadows being devoted to the production of hay for the winter 

 food of the sheep. It is mowed by the cowherds, who carry it 

 away on a curiously shaped cart drawn by two donkeys : the 

 cart is made without a piece of iron or a single nail. The paths 

 are made of silt, which is brought from the larger rivers, and the 

 beds separated from the grass by a very prettily worked edging of 

 wickerwork, the bark of the osiers having first been carefully 



