72 



THE JARDIN DES PLANTES. 



that belong to tlie genus. Then there is a large space de- 

 voted to plants used for the decoration of the parterre^ all 

 or chiefly tender plants or annuals. This is not so suc- 

 cessful or useful as some of the other arrangements^ though 

 it displays numbers of popular ornamental subjects. 



Let us pass on to a large division devoted to the culture 

 of plants used as food^ and in commerce. It is at once 

 successful^ useful^ and complete. The chief varieties of all 

 garden crops^ from Eadishes to Kidney Beans^ are to be 

 seen ; the various species of Khubarb^ all important varie- 

 ties of Lettuce — in a word_, everything that the learner 

 could desii-e to see in this ^ay. It is not merely the plan 

 of the thing that is sensible and good^ but its carrying out. 

 The annuals are regularly raised and put out ; the ground 

 is kept perfectly clean^ and it is^ in fact^ the best place I 

 have ever seen in vhich to become acquainted vith useful 

 plants. Such arrangements well carried out_, and cut off by 

 judicious planting from the general verdure and chief area 

 of any of our great public gardens, Tvould be of the 

 greatest service. The ground is thrown into beds about 

 six feet wide, and each kind is allotted six feet run of the 

 bed. The sweet potato is grown here, as indeed are all 

 interesting plants that may be grown in the open aii\ 



Below this arrangement, and near the river end of the 

 garden, is another very interesting division. It is chiefly 

 devoted to medicinal and useful plants of all kinds, aiTanged 

 in a distinct way. Fii^st we have the Sorghums, ^Millets, 

 Wheats, and Cereals generally — all plants cultivated for 

 theu' grains or seeds. Then come plants cultivated for 

 their stems, from Polymnia edulis to Ullucus tuber osus. 

 Next we have the chief species and varieties of Onion, such 

 plants as Urtica utilis, the Dalmatian Pyi^ethrum rigidum, 

 and in a word almost everything likely to interest in this 

 way, from Lactuca perennis to the esculent Hibiscus. 

 Here again the plants are well named and kept clear and 

 distinct, each having full room to develope, the general 

 space devoted to the subject being sufficiently large ; and 

 the practice of giving each plant a certain portion of the 

 whole breadth of each bed to itself is better than the more 



