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CHAPTER XIX. 



THE PEACH GARDENS OF MONTREUIL. 



The finest supplies of Peaclies for the Paris market do not 

 come, as perhaps many would suppose, from the sunny 

 south or the balmy west, but from within a few miles of 

 Pans, where they have to be grown on walls furnished with 

 good copings, and receive in every way careful protection 

 and culture. Approaching Montreuil the country is seen 

 covered with good crops of vegetables and fruit to the tops 

 of the pretty, low hills in the neighbourhood. All the crops, 

 however, are divided into small plots, showing how each 

 person has his own little portion, and has it moreover for 

 ever if he so chooses — land being bought and sold here as 

 simply as an overcoat is in England. But getting nearer 

 still to the village, a great number of white walls, about 

 eight or nine feet high, are seen, enclosing rather small 

 squares of land, and almost entirely devoted to the Peach. 

 As the walls are netted over many acres in some parts, the 

 eflect is curious when you look over them from a distance. 

 In the squares are small fruit trees and all sorts of garden 

 crops. To the visitor who takes a general look at the plan- 

 tations here, it is quite apparent that it is not to the climate 

 that the best growers owe their success. Among the two 

 hundred and fifty cultivators having Peach gardens here, 

 there are many with very shabby -looking trees on the walls, 

 while those in some of the best gardens are perfect models 

 of health, fertility, and skilful training. It will be seen by a 

 glance at the cuts that the French mode of pruning the Peach 

 tree is quite different from ours, inasmuch as they always 

 aim at securing straight, well-formed, well-furnished, and 

 equidistant branches, and always spur in the shoots rather 

 closely in spring. The cuts showing their mode of pruning, 



