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CHAPTER XXIV. 



OBSERVATIONS ON SOME OF THE VEGETABLES OF THE PARIS 



MARKET CULTURE OF THE SMALL CARROT THE CAR- 



DOON FORCING THE CAULIFLOWER THE SWEET POTATO 



EARLY POTATOES OLEANDER CULTURE CULTURE OF 



THE ORANGE SHOWING ROSES IN FRANCE FORCING THE 



WHITE LILAC. 



A VISIT to the markets of Paris is sufficient to interest 

 many in tlie vegetable culture of tliat capital. There is 

 so much difference in the supplies to that market and the 

 London one that there is certainly much to be learnt 

 on both sides. That so great a difference should exist 

 in the supplies of cities so near each other is somewhat 

 remarkable. The Parisians make as much use of that 

 delicate^ wholesome^, and excellent vegetable Seakale as 

 we in England do of the Bread Fruit Tree ; and the 

 Briton who leaves London in a hot and dry July^ 

 having failed to get a tender vegetable or salad at dinner, 

 arrives in Paris next morning, and finds the streets in the 

 neighbourhood thickly strewn with every variety as tender 

 as if the climate were a perpetual May. 



But, although abundant intercourse has long existed 

 between the two countries, the fact that the observers are 

 rarely practical men, and therefore not capable of seeing 

 differences and their value and causes, and the difficulty of 

 getting information about the subjects, noticeable improve- 

 ments have not been exchanged from side to side. There- 

 fore, in addition to dealing with the subjects in which 

 the French are far ahead of us — Salads, Asparagus, and 

 Mushrooms, for example — I have thought it well to speak 

 of any varieties of vegetables with which we should be 

 better acquainted, or which are likely to prove useful, and 



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