Voltaire used to sit and write, and even his little theatre, time has swept aAvay. A long
avenue, between two high hornbeam hedges, where he walked for hours together
and dictated to an amanuensis, and a largo elm tree planted with his own liand, ai*e tlie
only memorials that remain. As these iiieasurc-grounds were formed and planted by
himself, it is rcmai-kablc that there is not, nor ever was, a single bust or column, or
inscriiition, dedicated either to fi'ieiidsliip or to genius. In tlie house, the hall and his
bcd-room arc now shoivn in the same state as they were lei't at his death. (Duppa’s
Observations, &c., p. 75.)
412. Gibbon’s house and garden, a t Lausanne. The mansion, as Gibbon tolls us
himself, “ ivas spacious and convenient, connected on tho north side with the city ” (that
is, ill a naiTow street), “ and open on tlie south to a beautiful and boundless horizon.
A pleasure-ground of four acres was laid out by the taste of M. Dcyvcrdun. From the
garden, a rich scenery of meadows and vineyards descend to the Leman la k e , and the
prospects, stretching far beyond tho lake, are crowned by the stiqiendous mountains of
Savoy.” The house and gi-ounds arc now occupied by a rich b an k e r; but there is no
appearance that any expense, since Gibbon’s death, has been bestowed upon the place.
Natui-e has preserved the ten-ace, which commands a prospect of the country, the lake,
and the mountains; but the summer-house at the end of it, where Gibbon composed
the last page of his history, is now a forlorn room, tlie repository of broken earthenware
and fragments of wortlilcss refuse. (Ibid., p. 81.)
413. The firs t botanic garden which appeared in Switzerland ivas that of the celebrated
Conrad Gesner, at Zurich, founded before the middle of the sixteenth century. He had
not, Deleuze observes, sufficient fortune to obtain much ground, or to maintain many
gardeners; but his activity supplied every thing, and he assembled in a small spot what
he had been able to procm-c by his numerous travels and extensive con-espondeiicc.
Public gardens were, in the end of this centuiy, established at Gcnei'a, Basle, and
Berne, and, subsequently, in most of the cantons. The first of these gardens at present
is tliat of Geneva, lately enlarged and newly aiTaiiged, un<ler the direction of that active
and highly valued botanist, De Candolle. The garden of Basle is rich in the plants ol' all
the mountainous regions ivliich lie ai-oiind it, including the Tyi*ol and Piedmont. A
taste for fiowers is perhaps more populai* in Switzerland than in Germany; for though
frugality is not less an object in every branch of rui-iil economy, yet real independence
is more gene ra l; a poor man here has generally some little spot that he can call his
OAvn, and which he delights to cultivate and ornament. Speaking o f Zurich, Simond
observes (Tour, &c., 1819, p. 404.), “ Hacrlcm excepted, there is not a town where
more attention is paid to line llowei’s : many new plants, as the Ilortensia (Hydrangea
liortcnsis), Volkamerm, &c., arc here groAvn in perfection. Tlie taste for floivers
is particularly displayed on the occasion of the birtli of a child. When the news is
caiTied about to all the relations and friends of the family, the maid is dressed in her
best attfrc, and carries a huge no.segay of tlio finest flowers the season aflbrds.”
The hotanic garden at, Basic v/a.% visiioA by Murray, author of a Glance at Switzerland, in 1827. lie
found it of limited dimensions, with a small pond tor aquatics, which contained a jet-d’eau, ancl was
surrounded by rockwork, covered with alpine plants. What he thought most worthy of remark were,
the .irtindo Dbnax, liftcen feet high, and two fine specimens of Cfircus heptagbnus, ono in flower, fourteen
feet high. Tliey stood as sentinels at the entrance, and had always been exposed. {Gard. Mag.,
vol. ii. p. 22rj.)
414. Horticulture is carefully practised in Switzerland; vineyards are fonned as far
north as Lausanne; and the apple, pcar, plum, cherry, and walnut are common on
every farm ; the first three are in every cottage-gaa-den. The filbert, goosebcny, cuiTant,
raspberry, and strawbcny are natives; but only the filbert, raspberry, and straAvberiy
are common in the woods and copses. In the sheltered valleys of this countiy, tlic
apple find the pcar are most prolific. Stewed pears is a common dish among the
cottagers in au tum n ; the fiiiit is also dried, and, in winter, forms an excellent soup
ingredient. The cabbage, the potato, and white beet, grown for
the leaves as spinach and their footstalks as chard, and tlic kidneybean
for haiicots and soups, are the popular vegetables. Particular
attention is paid to bees, which ai'c kept in neat rastic sheds
(fig. 124.), or have their hives cai’efuUy thatched with bark or
moss.
415. There is little or no forest planting in Switzerland, but
hedges of hawthorn are not unfrequent. The walnut is there a
very common high-road tree, and in the autumnal months furnishes
the pauper traveller with the principal part of his food.
Poor Italians have been known to travel from Naples and
Venice to Geneva on the fmits and vegetables tliey gather from
the roadsides. They begin with Indian corn and grapes, which
. from the fields, till they aixive at Milan, and the rest of the road they depend
on Avalnuts, filberts, and apples.
416 The P'mus Ccmbra, Cernirán Pine, Apherrwusli Pine, Siberian Stone Pine, or
Siberian Calar (Jig 125.), is <Me o f the most useful trees in Switzerland. It is, indeed,
of very slow gl'owth ; one of these
trees, cut doivn when nineteen
inches in diameter, displayed 353
concentric circles. Its usual growth
is a span in height in six years.
The timber of the Cembran Pine
has a most agreeable perfume, and
is much used for domestic utensils,
as Avell as for wainscoting
rooms. A traveller, avIi o visited
the chateau of Tai-asp, was strack,
in almost every apartment, with
the perfume of this wood ; and he
remarks it as a sui-prising and inexplicable
circumstance, that the
M'ood should have exhaled this
perfume for some centuries in
undiminislicd strcngtli, and without
the wood itself having suffered
any decrease of weight. But this
wood possesses another recommendation
: rooms wainscoted
with it ai*e not infested with bugs
or moths. Its seeds are esteemed a
delicacy ■ they ai*c eaten in great quantities at the winter parties ; and on those occa-
sions it is said, tho fair sex display, in extracting them, a degi'ec of skill, mixed w j
much innocent gaiety and vivacity. This species of pme is becoming very rare in the
Alps In order to expedite and sccui-e its growth, and thus remove tho pimcipal J -
icction to its cultivation, the seeds should be deposited m a compost of eaitb, and of the
clippings and leaves of the pinaster and the larch ; or this compost should bo put roimd
the roots of the young plants. The larch is another valuable tree, not J y for the
purpose of forming maiim-e, but also for its durable timber. This lasts four times longer
than pine timber grown at tho same elevation. If, therefore, the larch^ were planted
whore the Scotch pine now grows, it is evident that much forest ground mi J t ho gam J
and applied to p a s ta o . The foliage of these and other trees is oarclully collected on the
momitaiiis for winter fodder, put into large nets, and then liiuled doivn into tho valleys.
(For. Quart. Rev., Jun. 1828.)
Sect. VI. O fA e Rise, Progress, and present State o f Gardening in Denmark.
417. Gardening was introduced into Denmark at au cai'Iy period ; and tt a Danish
court gardeners, Lnsideriiig the severity o fth e climate with which they have to contend,
rank deservedly high for tlicir Ibreed productions. J i c paiks and p le a s u r e - p j t a s ta
Denmark, though not extensive, abound in natural beauty ; and art has nevci m that
country done so much to deform nature, as under govenimeilts of greater wealth and
more absolute power. Denmark has some good botanic gardens, and has produced
some eminent botanists. ^ • -ra
418 Artificial plantations, for the purposes of utihty, are not common in Denmark ;
because in such a long n a n w country, possessing so many seaports the supplies from
Norway by sea are sufficiently abundant for every pm-pose of construction. Ih e native
trees of Denmark are tt a same as those of Britain ; hut many of the exotics which endme
our winters require protection in Denmark. The native trees_ which tlu-ive m J luxuriantly
arc, tt a spruce fir, the Scotch pine, the poplar-, the hirch, the beech, and the o J .
The poplar thrives luxuriantly in Denmark. There is a tree of the white poplai m the
south of Zealand, near the school of Ilerhissliolm, upwards of 100 feet lugh i j h a tnmk
twenty-two feet in ch-cmnferonce. I t is of gi-eat age, is veiy majestic, and ™s m J
vigom, without a decayed branch, in 1826. Hawthorn hedges im m k e d
and in tho immediate vicinity of the towns thi-oughout Zealand. I t h ^ been cmaiked
that the box tree thi-ives oxcoedingly in Denmark as well as ? ta frosL
cirons azaleas, and other American plants, are killed it not protected fiom the host. In
many seasons the laurustinus and common laurel are kiUed down to the g ro u ta , oven
though protected hy mats. Tlie difficulties which attend laying out f
circumstances will be understood hy every one Avho knoAvs any thing of landscape-
gardening ; as it is evident that, however carefully a place may he planted, and howevcr
well it may look in summer, it must have a bare and desolate appearance m winter.