April 17. 
COUNTRY GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION. 
41 
ago had prophesied that such a display of every thing 
grand and imposing would ever have been seen in 
Great Britain, wealthy and progressive though this 
country was then, he would have been thought a 
dreamer and a madman. Let, then, every gardener 
strain his utmost powers, by putting bis garden into 
such order, that he may be spared a few days to enjoy 
this great treat. 
I have now to mention and make a few remarks on 
gardeners exhibiting. Some ladies and gentlemen take 
great delight in exhibiting their plants by way of 
encouraging their gardeners, and others do not. This 
is purely a matter of taste. A gardener may grow his 
plants well, produce also tine fruits and vegetables, and 
yet his employer may object to that gardener exhibiting 
them. No reasonable gardener will say this is hard 
usage. The productions of any one’s garden are abso¬ 
lutely his own. His gardener’s skill and time he pays 
for, and, therefore, has an undoubted right to have entire 
control over both; and the gardener that has a good 
place would be very foolish indeed to find fault with his 
employer, because he refuses to allow him to take his 
plants or fruits, however excellent, to be exhibited. 
Though to exhibit excellent products of the gardener’s 
own growing, and to win prizes therewith,is both pleasant, 
honourable, and, perhaps, profitable, yet it is not done 
without great trouble and expence, and often engenders 
ill-feelings amongst the exhibitors themselves. But 
then, again, where all parties are agreeable, and success 
achieved, exhibiting tine productions is exceedingly 
pleasant and improving. I see, during my various 
journeys, many country exhibitions, and I have been 
highly gratified in most places with them. I see gar¬ 
deners, near neighbours, exhibiting against each other 
in perfect fairness and good-will. At one show, one will 
be first; at the next, another will be first; and it was very 
pleasant to behold such competitors meet after the 
exhibition in perfect good-feeling, satisfied that the 
judges have acted fairly, or, at least, according to the 
best of their judgment, with which judgment such right- 
thinking exhibitors have been contented. It is true, I 
have met with exhibitors that have acted differently; 
but such, I am happy to state, are rare; they are the 
exceptions, not the rule. In my own opinion, I think 
exhibitions are of the greatest benefit to gardening, to 
the owners of gardens, and to gardeners generally; and 
I hope to see all parties connected with gardening 
uniting together in societies, and thereby advancing this 
useful and pleasing art in every corner of the empire. 
T. Api’Leby. 
{To be continued .) 
NOTES FROM PARIS.—No. 10. 
UNIVERSAL EXHIBITION. 
The preparations for the coming Exhibition here, and 
the architectural alterations in progress, involve the con¬ 
sideration of matters related more or less directly to horti¬ 
culture. I think, therefore, that a short notice of the 
improvements going forward, as well as of the arrangements 
in preparation for the grand Horticultural and Agricultural 
Shows, cannot fail to be interesting to your readers. 
For several .months, this summer, we shall have within the 
barriers of the French capital contributions in vegetable 
products of every description; fruits, flowers, plants, and 
seeds, used in the arts, manufactures, and medicine, in the 
kitchen, the drawing-room, the garden, and field, whether 
for food, utility, or ornament,—contributions not only from 
every department of France, so favoured with a fertile soil 
and a line climate, but from warm, sunny lands far beyond 
the Alps and the Pyrenees. Besides the produce of the 
soil, we shall have innumerable implements, machines, and 
instruments, suitable for facilitating and abridging manual 
labour. There will, doubtless, be many things suggestive of 
different methods, or better practice. In any case, we shall 
have opportunities of comparing the products of other 
countries with those of our own ; and though the conditions 
cannot be equal, except in a limited range, the results must 
be beneficial to all. 
There may not be such another gathering for many a 
day; and a faithful record of its varied features, phases, 
and incidents, will be required by those who now are far 
removed from the scene of its existence, or those who will 
only hear of it long after the elements of which it is to be 
composed have been scattered or consumed. 
Let us search the records of the Great Exhibition of 
Hyde Fark, and we shall find glowing accounts of statuary, 
furniture, drapery, and instruments of all kinds; we shall 
find elaborate dissertations on locks and revolvers; on 
turn-out beds for heavy sleepers, or fancy cradles for infant 
princes. All this is just as it should be: but where shall 
we look for a good account of the vegetable products of the 
other countries, as exhibited under the roof of the first 
Crystal Palace ? The collection of Messrs. Lawson, of 
Edinburgh, was all that could be wished; but there were 
several small foreign collections of value which scarcely 
received notice, and were only shortly enumerated in the 
official catalogue. What added to the interest of Messrs. 
Lawson’s collection, and gave it a great advantage, was the 
fact that an excellent descriptive catalogue of the different 
objects exhibited was published by these enterprising gen¬ 
tlemen, and the public had, therefore, the means of making 
themselves fully acquainted with every particular. But the 
other exhibitions of the same kind, such as the collection of 
fruits and seeds from Barbadoes and other tropical coun¬ 
tries, were all but overlooked by the gentlemen of the press. 
The two Exhibitions will differ in this respect,—that here 
the interests of horticulture and agriculture, including every 
tiling related to them, will be fully and efficiently repre¬ 
sented. We shall be prepared to act our part as chroniclers 
in the department to which we belong; and at present we 
shall notice some of the shadows which precede the coming 
events. 
Every effort is being made by the authorities to have the 
numerous works now in propress as far advanced as possible, 
if not quite completed, by the first of May, when the Exhi¬ 
bition is to be opened. At present, a considerable number 
of gardeners are employed in laying out and planting the 
broad open spaces outside the Louvre. The ground is to be 
laid out in grass lawns, and planted with shrubs and 
flowering plants. Some large ornamental vases, in stone, 
are placed at different points, and the whole premises will 
be enclosed by a costly railing, on which, as is the fashion 
here, there will be no lack of gilding. The borders of orna¬ 
mental grounds in Paris are generally formed of ivy, which 
is at first planted like box, and after it has grown suffi¬ 
ciently, is trained in a low broad mass, and kept neatly 
trimmed. The deep sombre green of the ivy sets off the 
lively green of the smooth lawn, which is again relieved by 
the brighter tints and colouring of the flowers in the clumps. 
A neat little circle in this style was recently removed from 
the inner square of the Louvre, and a statue is to be put in 
its place. 
The alterations immediately surrounding the Palace 
de V Industrie are advancing rapidly. A broad carriage drive, 
leading from the avenue of the Champs Elysees to that of 
Conrs la Heine, near the river, has been formed on each side 
of the building. This has necessitated the removal of a 
great number of trees,—I should think 200, at least. Be¬ 
tween the river and the avenue of Cours la Rcine, a spacious 
building has been erected for heavy and bulky goods, such 
as machines, and implements of all kinds. This building 
is of a circular form, and is remarkable for its great length, 
being at least thirteen hundred yards long. It is strongly 
built, chiefly of wood, but is covered at the top with sheet 
glass, and will be well ventilated. This will enclose a 
superfices of mere than 30,000 yards, independent of its 
galleries, which will give an additional space of at least 
8,000 yards. At first, a row of trees of perhaps twenty or 
thirty years old, extended the whole length on each side; 
but, of course, their presence was incompatible with the 
erection of galleries. They have, consequently, been taken 
