CHAP. irr. 



CONTINENT OF EUROPE. 



139 



pijblished from ISOO to 1819, nearly 2000 species and varieties are described, 

 of which upwards of 500 are figured. 



Da Hamel, in the preface to" his work, says that he has treated of shrubs 

 as well as trees, in order to lead to the pursuit of the useful through the 

 medium of the agreeable. " There is reason," he says, " to hope that we shall 

 be better listened to by the rich, when we propose to ornament their mansions 

 with foreign trees, and their parks with thickets of flowering shrubs, than if we 

 were simply to tell them to form plantations on lands unfit'for producing corn 

 oi- grass. If the self-love of the possessors of country seats is flattered by the 

 view of common parks, notwithstanding the revolting uniformity of their 

 thickets, which are only varied by differing in size or in form, is there not rea- 

 son to hope that they will be much more highly gratified when the thickets in 

 these parks offer that variety which is produced by different kinds of trees 

 and shrubs, and which exhibits beauties suited to every season r" After giving 

 directions for choosing flowering trees and shrubs to form thickets for the 

 early part of spring, for the middle of spring, and for summer, he next shows 

 the superior enjoyment to be derived from the culture of trees, to that which 

 can be derived from the culture of herbaceous plants. " The most beautiful 

 bed of hyacinths or tvdips, when the flowers have once faded, leaves nothing 

 but what is withered and unsightly j whilst the flowers of trees and shrubs 

 which general)}' appear in spring arc succeeded by the most vivid green leaves ; 

 and even in winter, after these have dropped, the i-amification of the branches 

 and spray is beautiful and interesting." (Preface, p. xviii.) 



Du Hamel remarks that the greatest difficulty which opposed itself to his 

 plan of rendering foreign trees and shrubs general in France was, that the 

 greater part of them were not to be found for sale in the public nurseries. 

 From this we may conclude that those who did introduce foreign trees and 

 shrubs into France, during the 18th century, received tliem chiefly from abroad. 

 Of this, indeed, there can be no doubt, since it is attested by a living witness, 

 Mr. Thomas Blaikie, already mentioned, who is a native of Scotland, and has 

 been settled in France as a landscape-gardener since the year 1776. In the 

 Encyclo'pcadia of Gardening, edit. 1835, p. 88., will be found a list of gardens 

 and grounds laid out by Mr, Blaikie in France between 1776 and 1794, in 

 which he mentions that for one place (Maison) he " went to England to buy 

 the trees and shrubs ; as at that time few trees or shrubs could be found in 

 any nursery near Paris." Mr. Blaikie also laid out several places for the 

 Duke of Orleans, and especially Mongeaux, the trees and shrubs for which 

 were all procured from the Hammersmith Nursery. 



The culture of foreign trees and shrubs in French nurseries appears to have 

 commenced about the beginning of the present century, and the principal nur- 

 serymen who engaged in that branch were M. Noisette, whose father was 

 gardener to Monsieur, afterwards Louis XVIII., at Brunoy, and M. Gels, 

 who is now dead, and whose nursery is carried on by his son. On this sub- 

 ject, v/e refer for further details to the historical part of the Enci/clopc£dia of 

 Gardening, 



Among the principal amateurs who have collected foreign trees and shrubs 

 in France, since the commencement of the present century, may be mentioned, 

 first and principally, the Empress "Josephine, who had a collection at Malmai- 

 son of all that could be supphed from the London nurseries ; the late Baron 

 Pappenheim, who endeavoured to acclimatise many species at Coombe 

 la Ville ] Admiral TchitchagofF, who has a fine collection at Sceaux ; 

 Monsieur de Magneville, near Caen, who is noted for his collection of pines ; 

 the Duke of Orleans (now King of the French), who has an arboretum at 

 Neuilly, a catalogue of which was published by his gardener, Jacques, in 1833; 

 M. Du Mont de Courset, at Boulogne ; M. Soulange-Bodin, at Fromont on 

 the Seine; M. Vilmorin, at Barres; M. le Baron Tschoudi, at Columbiere, 

 near Metzj M. le Comte de Montbron, at Clervaux, near Chatelherault ; 

 M. Ivo}', in the neighbourhood of Bourdeaux, celebrated for his collection of 

 pines and firs ; and General Lemarrais, formerly aid-de-camp to Napoleon. 



M 3 



