106 llISTOKy OF GARDENING. P a r t I.
,,e e . IB .600. Some are 300 year»
S i n r o " T S rtrTe s arl'p lan ted to boxe’s made of U ; and these boxes are said to last from fifteen to
7 a r f ih " eV m iilr a tc dm ’'th ? ril!a g o of Thomery, to the neighbourhood of Fon-
? p S » to D o r 1827; and rvUl be
north la t. the e f tt. i f t ¥/mtoees¥ -arriem i t^o 7 „ ^ Montmorency, where many ol the stools are old,
1820, which we subjoin (fig. 70.).
Tie m m -am U is now much cultivated in France, particularly in the gardens at Versailles and Meudon.
g rm ^ ; ~ S a r «
exhausted, and the bottom is not springy, or liable to be filled with water, it is lot to a
grower, who generally contrives to purchase a wheel and windlass f t a t has become too
stones, but which seríes him as a means by which he dcscenft and ascends ;
dung, earth, and spawn, and managing thorn below, much in the same way f t in England. Mfthrooms
are also grown in cellars in Paris, and in market-gardens on t f t su rfa ft f t vei ow^
to be tw5 distinct varieties of this fungus: one grown m very firm soil, the colour ^ ^
and the other, grown in very loose, black, rich soil, and on dung ndgcs, which s ot a small size a f t f t icate
white colour. We found in 1828 both sorts in great perfection lu the market-garden of M. Gallois,
á I’Abbaye Saint Antoine.
270. Bees have long been an object of attention to the countrymen in France. Tbe
hive in most general use is of straw ; but there arc a great many ñmciful kinds there as
in England, and also many books on the subject. One author (M. L a Grenée) Ifts the
merit of liaving shown that there is neither profit nor humanity in saving the lives ot
bees after they have been deprived of their honey.
B o o ic I. FRENCH GARDENS. 107
271. Ice-houses arc common in Franco in tho neighbourhood of largo towns, but
arc not, nor ever were, frequent in country residences. Tliere is an immense one belonging
to a public company at St. Ouen, near Paris, which holds upwards of ten millions
of pounds. (ifcpMc Uncyc., April, 182G.)
272. Mutual improvement There are many points of practice in the horticulture of
France which might be improved from tho horticulture of other countries ; and many
in which other countries might derive improvement from Franco. In the forcing department,
and in the culture of the pine-apple, tho French have made great progress, and
much may be learnt from them. In tho culture of salads during the winter, and in tho
growth of mushrooms throughout tho year, tho gardeners of Britain may also learn a
good deal from those of Paris. Fifty years ago, the pruning and training of fruit trees
wore bettor understood in France than in Great Britain ; and we have nothing, even now,
in the way of the culture of the vine in England, so simple and ingenious as the practice
at Thomery ; or, in the pruning of standard frait trees, better than tho practice and
lectures of M. Hardi at tho Luxembourg. IV h ap s, also, consiclermg the didicultios
of climate to be overcome in Franco, the heat and drought in summer, and tho groat
cold in winter, the Ffrench gardeners have more merit in producing or preserving tho
culinaiy vegetables at such seasons, in the open air, than those of Britain.
Sdbseot. 4. Pmic/l Gardening, in respect to the Planting o f Timber Trees and Hedges.
273. Planting fo r profit has never hem extensively practised in France, owing to the
abundance of natural forc.sts iu every part of tlic kmgdom. These forests wore much
neglected tiU within the last th h ty years ; but they arc now (being mostly national property)
under a more regular course of management ; their limits are dcflned by fences,
and tho blanks arc lilled up from tho national nurseries. The roads of France being also
kept up hy government, much attention is paid to lining them with rows of trees. In
some places, the walnut, chciTy, apple, pcar, and other fruit trees are used ; in northern
districts the elm, oak, and poplar are employed ; and in the south wc frequently find tho
mitlbeny, and sometimes tho olive. Pines and fms were seldom planted in France
till about 1789, when M. Brcmontier, who was administrator of tho forests in that
year, conceived tlie idea of using those trees to cover tho immense tracts of barren sand
wliich exist ill many parts of Franco. Tho most remarkable of these downs arc those
between Dunkirk and Nieuport, between Calais and Boulogne, and those between tho
rivers Adour and Gironde. The latter are by far tho most important, and Bremon-
tier commenced his operations in the Gulf of Gascony in 1789. “ The downs there
arc composed of drifting sands, covering 300 square miles. Brcmontier comp.arcs
the surface of this immense tract to a sea, which, when agitated to fmy by a tempest,
had been suddenly fl-xcd, and changed to sand. I t offered nothing to tho eye but a
monotonous repetition of white wavy mountains, perfectly destitute of vegetation. In
times of violent storms of wind, tho sm-face of these downs was entirely changed ;
what w-cre hills of sand often becoming valleys, and the contrary. Tho sand, on tliese
occasions, was often carried up into the interior of the country, covering cultivated fields,
villages, and oven onth-e forests. This takes place so gi-adually (by tho sand sweeping
along the surface, and thus raising it, or falling from the air in a shower of particles so
fine as to be scarcely perceptible), that nothing is destroyed. The sand gradually rises
among crops as if they wore inundated with water ; and tho herbage and the tops ot
trees fippcar quite green and healthy oven to the moment of their being overwhelmed
with sand which is so very fine as to resemble that used in England m hour-glasses. ’
(Sec Dktionnaire des E a u x et des Forêts, tome i. p. 816.) The fii-st thing that M Bre-
monticr did was to fix tins sea of sand ; and the process he pm-sucd was as remarkable
for its simplicity as for its complete success; I t consisted in sowing on the surface seeds
of tho common broom mixed with those of Pinus Pinaster, commencmg on tho side
next the sea, or on that from wliich the wind gcncraUy blows, and sowing in a narrow
zone in a direction at right angles to that of tho wind. ^ The ffist sown zone is
protected by a line of hurdles, and tliis zone serves as a protection to the second beyond
which another lino of hurdles is placed, so that tho second may protect the third and so
on till the whole breadth of the downs is covered. From four to five pounds of broom
seed and fi-om one to two pounds of Pinaster seed, arc sown per acre ; and as soon as
the rowing of each acre is completed, tho ground is covered with branches of pines and
other trees, with the leaves on, brought from tho neighbouring woods. These branches
are laid down in a regular manner in tho direction of the wind, overlapping each other
and being fastened on each side to the hurdles ; while in some places, whore tho ground
is a good deal exposed, rods are laid down and fastened to the hurdles, so as to keep
the branches in their proper place. In this manner tho ground is thatched wherever
tho seeds are sown, and where branches of trees cannot he procured, straw, rushes, reeds
or sea-wccds are used. When, however, these compai-atively light materials are employed
it is found advisable to make tlic fences between tho zones of boards or strongly wattled
I.)":n
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