ROUEN. 



617 



Fig. 356. 



there is a belt of shrubs^ and around all a gravel walk^ the 

 little space being kept private. There were four large vases 

 in itj each containing a fine specimen of the New Zealand 

 Flax_, but it is possible they had been placed here specially 

 for the Emperor''s visit. In any case, this mere spot^ half- 

 way over a bridge^ looked 

 one of the sweetest bits of 

 town gardening I have seen. 



In the Botanic Gardens 

 at Rouen the first things 

 encountered were some of 

 those enormous and un- 

 meaning masses of Cannas^ 

 Tagetes_, &c._, which the 

 French sometimes make 

 even larger and more hideous 

 than we do. There is^ how- 

 ever_, a neat fruit garden and 

 a good specimen of what 

 they call a school of botany 

 — i.e., an arrangement of 

 hardy plants scientifically 

 named and arranged. It is 

 only fair to say that the 

 plants are kept more dis- 

 tinct and well named in 

 those divisions of French 

 public gardens than is the 

 case in Britain^ where they 

 are too often allowed to 



grow wild through each Pear Tree with the branches trained in 

 Other. Sabal Adansoni is Hnes exactly above each other, and all 



the points united by graiting. 



placed in the open air here 



for the summer, and seems a palm of such rigid and 

 leathery texture that it should do for general use in 

 that way. The fruit garden contains a good many of what 

 are called model trees, and many cordons ; but on the whole, 

 while there is much that is curious, and this division is well 

 kept, it really affords little instruction. Specimens in the U 



