THE BOIS DE BOULOGNE. 



21 



Apart from the perfect keeping of the whole_, the chief 

 lesson to be learnt here by the English planter is the 

 value of paying far greater attention than we at present do 

 to artistic planting of choice hardy trees and shrnbs. The 

 islands seen from the margin of the lakes are at all times 

 beautiful^ in consequence of the presence of a varied collec- 

 tion of the finest shrubs and trees tastefully disposed. They 

 show at a glance the immense superiority of permanent 

 embellishment over fleeting annual display. The planting of 

 these islands was expensive at first, and required a good 



Fig. 11. 



Winter scene on the lake in the Bois de Boulogne. 



knowledge of trees and shrub s, besides a large amount of 

 taste in the designer ; but it is so done that were the hand 

 of man to be removed from them for half a century they 

 would not sufi'er in the least. Nothing could be easier 

 than to find examples of gardens quite as costly in the first 

 instance, which, while involving a yearly expenditure, would 

 be ruined by a yearns neglect. It is summer, and along the 

 margins of these islands you see the fresh pyramids of 

 the deciduous cypress starting from graceful surroundings of 

 hardy bamboos and pampas grass, and far beyond a group 

 of bright silvery Negundo in the midst of dark-green vegeta- 



