32 
PARK AND CEMETERY. 
THE NEW NURSERIES OF THE CITY OF PARIS. 
A city may have among its possessions, in its 
museums, many invaluable art treasures; it may 
have broad and beautiful streets and monuments of 
noble proportions, and boast of its seats of learning 
and science; but it will still be incomplete, if want- 
14,086 square metres are devoted to open air cul- 
ture beds and cold frames; while the gardens (lawns 
and ornamental features) occupy 30,705 square 
metres. It extends to the site called the “Fonds- 
des-Princes.” 
M. Formige, the clever designer of the prome- 
PANORAMIC VIEW OF THE NEW NURSERIES OF THE CITY OF PARIS, AT AUTEUIL. 
ing in that captivating and supreme grace which 
come only from verdure and flowers, the public 
parks, says L Illustration, in giving the following 
particulars relative to the new municipal nurseries 
and greenhouses of the city of Paris. 
Paris, ever a coquette, skilled in the art of pleas- 
ing, has paid much attention to this laudable means 
of ornamentation. In 1855, about the time li e 
great promenades of the city were introduced, she 
created for the sole use of the city, a model estab- 
lishment, or nursery, at a place known as “George's 
Field” at Passy. Forty-two greenhouses and nu- 
merous culture beds made it possible to cultivate and 
preserve here the plants intended for the embellish- 
ment of the public parks and gardens of the capital 
and to perpetuate the plants used for the ornamenta- 
tion of municipal fetes, for distribution as prizes, 
etc. Twenty years later (1873), it was found that 
this municipal nursery, called the Fleuriste de la 
Muette, was insufficient for the city’s needs, and at 
a meeting of the Municipal Council it was decided 
to transfer the plant to another site. This action 
was only perfunctory, however, for it was only after 
twenty years more (November 21, 1893) that M. 
Quentin-Bauchant submitted to his colleagues a re- 
port, the adoption of which removed this old mat- 
ter from the domain of theory to that of practice. 
The form of the new nursery is that of a triangle 
having for its base the fortifications of Paris, and 
for sides the departmental route No. 29 from Bou- 
logne to Paris, to the Auteuil gate, and the Boule- 
vard d’Auteuil. Its area, which is three and a half 
times that of the Fleuriste de la Muette, covers ex- 
actly 93,000 square metres. The greenhouses, 
which are 93 in number, cover 4, 796 square metres; 
nades of Paris, who made the plans for the nursery, 
has endeavored to conceal the buildings where the 
rougher work of potting the plants takes place and 
where the furnaces are located which make steam 
for heating the greenhouses. When the visitor enters 
the principal gate to the nursery, which is situated 
upon the departmental route from Boulogne to Paris, 
he sees before him at the foot of a graceful stair- 
way a French garden which stretches away in front 
of him to the entrance to the principal greenhouse, 
called the “winter garden.” On either side are 
other greenhouses. At the end of the French gar- 
den farthest from him, at the end of the walks lead- 
ing up to the “winter garden,” there is a fountain 
by Dalou, one of the most perfect works of that 
master sculptor. 
The principal greenhouse, tall, light and ele- 
gant, — forms an ideal winter garden, where rare 
plants, perfectly developed, rise to the roof of the 
structure, giving to the place the appearance of a 
small but virgin forest; while a little stream bor- 
dered and planted with aquatic plants, winds among 
the rocks. On the right and left, as prolongations 
of this building, are other greenhouses devoted to 
palms. A large and beautiful garden will be se- 
cured for the public, and filled with special designs, 
in that part of the nursery between the main en- 
trance and the passages near the fortifications. The 
first horticultural establishment of the city was built 
by piece-meal, and unity not being possible the 
plants were not always desirably placed, but here- 
after all this will be different. 
In addition to the advantages enjoyed by this 
new nursery is the additional circumstance that it 
is located adjoining the municipal nurseries for 
