60 



THE PARC DES BUTTES CHAUMONT. 



water into the cave^ ivy and suitable shrnbs being planted 

 along its course above tbe roof of the cave. 



The effect is remarkably striking^ though it is hardly the 

 kind of thing to be recommended for a public park. By 

 all means let us leave the luxuries of gardening out of the 

 question^ till we have provided the necessaries for the popu- 

 lation of great towns^ and these are green lawns^ trees^ and 

 wide open streets and ways^ with their necessary conse- 

 quence, pure air. On one of the buttes, or great mounds 

 here_, they have planted 500 or 600 deodars — forming it a 

 hill of deodars in fact. This is a mistake,, for though Paris 

 is not as foggy as Spitalfields, it is a great city, as may be 

 seen from this park, and with many a vomiting chimney 

 too^ so that the better plan would be to pay double atten- 

 tion to deciduous trees, using only such evergreens as are 

 certain to grow. In one wide nook, perfectly sheltered on 

 the three coldest sides, M. Andre planted a collection of 

 subjects mostly tender in the neighbourhood of Paris. 



Fi'om this park, the surroundings of which are by no 

 means attractive, you can look over nearly all Paris. 

 The approach to it from the central parts is shabby for 

 Paris, and on the way some idea of what the city was 

 before the splendid improvements of the past ten years may 

 be caught ; but this approach, like most objectionable 

 things there, is simply tolerated till more important ones are 

 finished. Of the quick way in which they proceed with 

 them, the reader can scarcely have a notion. I have 

 seen acres of land removed to a depth of several yards 

 without any fuss, and in a few weeks ; miles of trees planted 

 in the course of a single week; old subui^bs blown up by 

 hundreds of mines a day, and levelled into commanding 

 terraces fit for princely mansions. One June day, bright, 

 dry, and very warm, they were planting trees in this park, 

 and large ones too — trees that required great machines to 

 lift them — while they were marking the ground for fresh 

 plantings. Do you plant after this date? I asked. Every 

 day in the year ! Of the larger trees some seem not to 

 take well, and doubtless in consequence of summer-planting, 

 for which there seems little excuse. 



