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and Duke of Hamilton. Second, Mr. W. Whittaker, with Queen of 
England, Maid of Orleans, and King (Willison). Third, John Peacock, 
Esq., Denton, with Sir Robert Peel (seedling), Sir Joseph Paxton, and 
Nina (seedling). Fourth, Mr. James Parkins, with Princess Royal, 
Catherine, and Seedling (Storer). Fifth, My. Samuel Barlow, with 
Princess Royal, Rose Celestial (Barlow), and Captain Nolan. Sixth, 
Mr. Luke Ashmore, with Anastasia, Duchess of Sutherland, and 
Seedling No, 8. Seventh, John Peacock, Esq., with Miss Forrest, 
Polyphemus, and Anne McGregor (seedling). Mr. Willison’s prizes 
were awarded to Zachariah Peacock, Esq., for Juliet, Exquisite, and 
Gem ; and Breeders, Sir Joseph Paxton, King, and Juliet. 
NOTES MADE DURING A JOURNEY TO PARIS. 
No. II. 
The Gardens of Versailles .—Starting early one morning by railway 
we soon passed the charming village of Bellevue, with its pretty villas, 
and found ourselves in the quiet, ancient, and quaint town of Versailles. 
Turning down a narrow street, we entered a large yard, and found the 
head gardener, Mons. Charpentier, at home. In him I immediately 
recognised the most gentlemanly deportment, and that frankness of 
manner and obliging disposition which characterises the Frenchman 
wherever you meet him. He could not speak English, nor myself 
French, but by the aid of an interpreter with whom my kind employer 
had provided me, we managed to exchange ideas very well. And I 
must say that of all my introductions (and they were many and most 
agreeable) this was the most gratifying. 
The kitchen garden here is of great extent, comprising thirty acres ; 
and on one side of it is a broad raised terrace walk, which overlooks the 
whole of it. In the quarters there are many pyramidal fruit trees, 
trained, however, with less precision than those of Mons. Cuppe at the 
Jardin des Plantes Pines are grown very well here, producing fine 
fruit from very small compact plants. In their young state they are 
planted out, being afterwards potted and grown in an atmosphere richly 
fed with the ammonia exhaled from a chamber of fermenting dung 
beneath them, the pots being plunged in tan. 
In forcing Vines they have no such houses as we have, and only use 
the Chasselas de Fontainbleau for this purpose. They have the Vines 
trained upon stakes in the garden, and cover a different portion of this 
trellis every year with a small wooden frame, enclosing a flat copper 
hot water pipe, and being lined with hot dung round the outsides. 
They attach great importance to their custom of forcing a diffoj’ent 
portion of the Vines every year, a position which I venture to dissent 
from, as calculated to promote their success. 
There was a vast provision of Strawberries in pots for forcing, 
principally Alpines, with some of Keens’ Seedling, and I noticed many 
Plums and Cherries in pots, with plants of a small green Fig. They have 
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