94 
AMERICAN POMOEOGICAE SOCIETY 
where the soil is none to adaptable at first, is crowded into a narrow cir- 
cumscribed space of a few square feet — surrounded by thousands of its kind 
all treated precisely the same, and you have a condition that cannot make 
for continued health and vigor. This close planting and severe pruning has 
been corrected in many places. Some growers who have suffered severely 
from the phylloxera have adopted the Italian method which goes to the 
other extreme, where the vines come nearer to taking care of themselves 
than in any other system of grape culture that I have seen. This system in 
short, is to plant rows of low-headed trees, say, elm, maple, mulberry or 
thornapple, in rows twenty or more feet apart and from ten to fifteen feet 
apart in the row. A vine is planted on each side of the tree and shoots are 
allowed to run up and occupy the whole crown, then long shoots are trained 
laterally by means of wire supplemented by a few supporting stakes. The vines 
with grapes hanging in festoons along these lines from tree to tree present 
an appearance both graceful and picturesque. It was everywhere evident 
that where this method was employed the vines were vigorous and fruitful. 
The ground between these rows of trees bearing grapes is cultivated in farm 
or garden crops. 
They Love Fruits and Flowers. 
The French are a fruit and flower-loving people. Every private garden 
whether it belongs to the man of wealth or to the humble cottager is beau- 
tified with flowers and adorned by fruit. In the great markets of Paris there 
are surprisingly large spaces devoted to the sale of orchard and garden 
products. In some of these markets there is a remarkable segregation of 
various classes and varieties of these products: for example, all the cauli- 
flower will be in one place, all the artichokes in another and so with the 
different classes of fruit and other products, the arrangement as far as 
classification and grouping are concerned being much the same as that of a 
great modern department store. This style of market is wonderfully im- 
pressive, and must be a great convenience to its patrons. I suppose it is 
only practicable where large aggregate sales are made every market day, 
and where there is a spirit of co-operation on the part of those who have the 
products for sale. 
As to fruit exhibits, I saw nothing comparable to the exhibits of apples, 
pears and peaches seen at our best State Fairs or special fruit exhibits. 
The French however excel in exhibits of small fruit. Plums, cherries, straw- 
berries, etc., are exhibited in a way that puts our best efforts to shame. 
These fruits are not often shown in the profusion that we see here; but the 
smaller quantities, in most attractive packages embellished with foliage and 
embowered with flowers, are so artistically arranged, that they leave a 
picture on the memory that is not easily effaced. 
As to horticultural education — it may be said that the National Horticul- 
tural Society of France is doing excellent work in the way of University 
Extension. Men of fine training and long practical experience are employed 
to give lectures and practical demonstrations along the most ad- 
vanced lines of horticultural theory and practice. These men are 
usually connected with the Jardin des Plantes, the Garden of Acclimation, or 
