The parks and gardens of Paris, considered in relation to the wants of other cities and of the public and private gardens; being notes on a study of Paris gardens

Front matter

Cornell Mniversity Library

RETURN TO ALBERT R. MANN LIBRARY

ITHACA, N. Y.

Introduction

“ And let it appeare that he doth not change his Country Manners for those of Forraigne Parts: But only prick in some Flowers of that he hath Learned abroad into the Customes of his own country.”—Bacon’s Essay on Travel.

Tuts book originated as follows: when some years ago the author first went to Paris, he was privileged to note in the Times anything of importance with reference to horticulture that might be observed in that city and its neighbourhood interesting from an English point of view. Upon some of the points noted a lengthy correspondence arose, which (like most discussions) not being calculated to point to any definite conclusions, he was led to embody his notes upon the various subjects in the form of a book. At first the questions discussed were of purely horticultural interest, such as the extensive and skilful cultivation of hardy fruit-trees in France which has made fruit-so good and plentiful in that country and led to its being so largely exported; the remarkable culture of Asparagus round Paris; the system by which in a harsh climate the French growers supply so well not only their own markets but those of many other cities with excellent salads throughout the winter and spring; the cultivation in the market-gardens round Paris, in which at least threefold more produce is gathered than from similar extent of garden-ground elsewhere ; the very curious growth of Mushrooms beneath Paris, which had, till then, not been described or illustrated. With the idea of the book, however, came a feeling that the great system of public gardens formed of recent years in Paris, the many squares, the vast series of tree-planted streets and avenues, and generally that public gardening which has made New Paris, might be discussed with profit at a time when our own cities are so much viii INTRODUCTION.

in need of change. “And I wished not only to record and illustrate what is good in them, but also to point out what is harmful.

It is scarcely necessary to show that a clean and ordered city is better than an ugly and filthy one, but it may be well to consider that from the lowest point of view it is the interest of even the poorest tradesman in London to help forward bold measures for its improvement. Whatever the fortunes of our country in the future, nobody can doubt that the English race will form the most numerous of civilised peoples, nor that the city where Shakespeare and Milton wrote will be holiday-ground to millions of English-speaking people besides those that inhabit it. The attractions of London to strangers are really greater than those of any other city that exists, but our total want of plan, or of any wise provision calculated to make locomotion pleasant or even possible throughout London, and the filthy and depressing aspect of the narrow streets, effectually drive away thousands of people from America and our vast colonies only too anxious to stay in London were it made possible to them. It is a common occurrence for Americans to run the gauntlet of Fleet Street and the Strand, and judging the whole town by their experience of a few narrow and greasy thoroughfares, to escape with all speed to pleasanter places. In Paris superb avenues may be seen often leading to nothing ; in London many important points of interest are practically unapproachable even to those who know the town. Of course we cannot cut down our Fleet Streets or our Strands, but we could at much less cost than that of similar improvements ‘in Paris drive a series of noble roads through the wretched shanties that cover a good half of London, go that it would be possible to get some clear and comprehensive idea of its plan, its suburbs, its parks—its noblest treasure of all, its ship-cities, the river below the bridges, its buildings, and its commerce.

The recent very remarkable improvements in Paris, such as the opening of the stately Boulevard de Saint-Germain running through and opening up to sun and air and trees the whole of the south of the city, and the new Avenue between the new Opera House and the Rue de Rivoli, have not only been made without cost to the town, but even with a balance on the right side, the vastly-increased value of sites for business premises in these new and noble streets having more than repaid the cost of their forma-

INTRODUCTION. ix tion and the removal of the old houses through which they were driven. Abroad, every little capital possessing enough interest to occupy one for two hours, is furbishing-up its attractions, while we in London are neglecting advantages the like of which are not possessed by any other city in Europe. The river, the bridges, the suburbs, the surroundings, are infinitely superior to Paris, but owing to stupid absence of plan many of the good points are lost, many of the best suburbs being unknown ground even to thousands of Londoners, owing to the impossibility of reaching them without struggling through narrow and mean streets and roads. The finest city avenue in Europe is the Champs Elysées in Paris, and probably few would think it possible that a site with equal capacities lies wholly unused in the heart of London. Yet there it is in the Regent’s Park, barred up by the railing of Park Crescent, and frittered away recently by narrow strips of geometrical gardening. I have said as good a site as the Champs Elysées, but it is really much better, the wide expanse of beautiful ground which may be seen from the top of the Broad Walk being entirely in the hands of the State. It has thus the advantage of being freely open to noble improvement without the enormous cost for removing massive, lofty, densely-packed houses which had so often to be incurred in Paris. In many other cases in like manner great opportunities are frequently unnoticed from dead walls or narrow streets or miserable railings stopping the view.

All this is not only sad, from its depriving us of so much beauty that London might possess, but also from its far more serious evil in the depreciation of property. I think it is very clear that many quarters of London, beautiful in themselves, are greatly lowered in value owing to bad approaches. A good and simple system of broad tree-planted roads, radiating from the centre to the suburbs, and connected by outer circular roads, would tend to make all parts of the town of more equal value, and would go far to prevent that terrible isolation of the poor in various parts of the city the misery of which is at present a by-word throughout the world. The real want is a want of plan, and this it is to be hoped Parliament will some day give us power to obtain. At present this want is glaringly apparent, not only in the central and more crowded parts, but all round London, where x INTRODUCTION.

admirable preparations may be seen for the formation of a mighty cordon of suburban St. Gileses. A most crying evil of this period of change when the masses of workers are steadily deserting the country for the city, is that our towns are still built upon a plan worthy of the dark ages, and only barely justifiable where the breath of the meadow sweeps through the high-street.

Many people are apt to connect city improvement with autocratic government. One has only to speak of our backwardness, to be reminded that it is all owing to our not being blessed with a Napoleon. The best comment upon such a suggestion is that since the establishment of the Republic in France, improvements calculated to produce the best effects on the beauty and salubrity of Paris have been carried out more vigorously than before, with this difference, that they are done more economically. In the creation of tree-planted streets in the more crowded parts both of London proper and the suburbs, they should not as a rule be formed on the site of old and much-frequented streets, but, as far as possible, be pierced between them, leaving the largest and most populous thoroughfares of the present day to become the secondary ones of the future.

Here and there may be noticed in the book an impatience with the present condition of things as regards the direction of gardens by persons having no sympathy with the art. This is one of the causes why public gardens afford little pleasure or instruction compared with that of which they are capable. In Paris the direction of public gardens is frequently placed in the hands of botanists, engineers, and architects—hence stereotyped and very imperfect work. The plan and spirit of the old botanic garden is wholly wrong as a system, and from it there is no hope. One of these, of which the Garden of Plants may be taken as a type, so far from helping horticulture is a living and persistent blight upon its progress, in the region possessing such a garden. The . leading idea in these gardens is that collections cannot be accumulated without arranging them in a hideous and depressing manner. The truth is, however, that when the art of gardening is properly understood, it will be found that the richer the collection the more beautiful and varied will be the effect. But improyve-~ ment will probably never come through botanists, whose true and very sufficient field is the world, with the herbarium in which to

INTRODUCTION. xi store their treasures; nor through architects and engineers, because their own work is different even in kind.

What, then, is wanted for the future development of an art which, far more than any other, may influence the beauty of the country ; which may add so much to the simplest and healthiest home pleasures of its people, to its wealth in forest and field, to the supplies of its markets with much that is essential for crowded cities, and to the adornment of the table with all that is delightful to the eye and taste? The only direct way onwards is through the trained and artistic gardener. We must educate the young men, and in this way all has yet to be done. Funereal Kensingtons and very one-sided Chiswicks will not help much, though half the money buried in geometrical rubbish at Kensington would, properly used, have given us a national garden worthy of the country. The art of garden design is yet in a very barbarous state, only a few monotonous notes are, as a rule, got out of it, and we shall never know its true capabilities till there is a school of young men trained for it from the beginning, and devoted to it heart and soul. What they ought to know to make the country and its homes more beautiful is outlined in the chapter on the Pare Monceau. As no help need be expected from the State, anything to be done must be by those more immediately concerned —the horticulturists and landowners of the United Kingdom.

We have now to deal with fruit-culture, market-gardening, etc., in Paris and its environs. On these matters there were prolonged discussions in the newspapers, but many readers and disputants have been misled by confounding the comparative state of horticulture in France and England with the real point at issue—z.e., the superiority of the French in certain special and most important branches of garden-culture. JI have never asserted, as has been assumed, that the French are our superiors in general horticulture. We are far before them in horticulture, agriculture, and rural affairs generally; but in certain very important points of fruit and vegetable culture they are far in advance of us. I am convinced, too, that more than one of their - modes of culture will prove of great value to us. To avoid these points, and utter commonplaces about our general superiority, is to beg the question. Are we to ignore their good practices because we happen to be more luxurious in our gardening establishxii INTRODUCTION.

ments than they are? My object is to point out in what way we may learn from the French. That they, in turn, may learn from us will be apparent when it is stated that intelligent Frenchmen have in botanic gardens pointed doubtfully at plants of Rhubarb and Seakale and asked me if it were true that we eat them in England ! The general introduction into France of these two hardy easilygrown vegetables would be a material addition to the riches and food-supplies of that country.

Of the practices which we may with advantage, and which indeed we must, adopt from the French, those of fruit-culture command our first attention, because good fruit-culture combines the beautiful and the useful in a very high degree. There are at least six important ways in which we may highly improve and enrich our fruit-gardens and fruit-stores,

First, by planting against walls the very finest kinds of Winter Pears—the Pears that keep long, the Pears that bring a good return, the Pears of which the French now send us many thousands of pounds’ worth annually. Varieties of Winter Pears are frequently planted in the open, in all parts of these islands, that an experienced fruit-grower in the neighbourhood of Paris or even further south would never plant away from a wall, knowing well that it would be sheer loss to do so. Sir H. Scudamore Stanhope has proved in his garden at Holme Lacy (p. 299) that improved wall-culture of the finer Winter Pears is as possible in England as in France.

Secondly, by the general adoption of the cordon system of Apple-growing in gardens. This will enable us to produce a finer class of fruit than that grown in orchards. It may be carried out in spots hitherto useless or unemployed, and will enable us to do away with the big Apple-trees that now shade our gardens. It should be distinctly understood, however, that I do not recommend this system for orchard-culture, or for the production of the kinds and qualities of fruits that may be gathered in profusion from naturally-developed standard trees.

Thirdly, by the general introduction of the true French Paradise stock into the gardens of the British Isles. Its merits are that it is dwarfer in growth than any other, and that in wet, cold or stiff soils it keeps its roots in a wig-like tuft near the surface —a most valuable quality on such soils. When well known, it

INTRODUCTION. xiil will be found an immense gain in every class of garden except those on dry and poor sandy or gravelly soils, remarkable as it is in inducing early fertility, and affording a better result without root-pruning than either the Crab or English Paradise does with that attention. The knowledge that the Doucin of the French is an admirable stock for all forms of tree between the standard of the orchard and the very dwarf cordon or bush, will also be useful. The Apple should not be worked on the Crab unless it is desired to form standard trees in orchards—by far the best method, if properly carried out, for market and general supplies.

Fourthly, by the adoption in Peach-culture of some of the smaller forms of tree that may be observed in French gardens, as they will enable us to cover our walls with fruitful handsome trees in a few seasons instead of waiting many years, as hitherto, only perhaps to see them partially covered after all. These forms, the cordon, U or double U forms figured in this book, are particularly desirable where the soil is too light and poor for the health and full development of large wide-spreading trees. ,

Fifthly, by adopting for every kind of fruit-tree grown against walls a more efficient and simple mode of protection than we now use. In speaking of fruit-culture, nothing is more common than to hear our climate spoken of as the cause of all our deficiencies— the “ fine ” climate of Northern France being supposed to do everything for the cultivator. The error of this view of the case is well illustrated by the fact that the fruit-growers about Paris take care to protect their fruit-walls in spring by means of wide temporary copings. In this country I have never anywhere seen a really efficient temporary coping, though endless time is wasted in applying boughs, nets, etc., none of which are in the least effective in protecting the trees from the cold sleety rains, which, if they do not always destroy the fertilising power of the blossoms, prepare them to become an easy prey to frost.*

Sixthly, by the acquirement and diffusion among every class of gardeners of a knowledge of budding, grafting, pruning, and training equal to that now possessed by the French. Many of the illustrations in this book show the mastery they possess over each detail of training—the branches of every kind of tree being con-

* Since writing the above, various persons have introduced useful wide temporary and permanent copings, and with excellent results, xiv INTRODUCTION.

ducted in any way the trainer may desire, and with the greatest ease. This knowledge is quite common amongst amateurs and workmen whose fellows in this country know nothing of such subjects. There are numerous professors who teach it in France ; in this country, where it is really of far greater importance it is not taught at all or only in the most imperfect manner. It isa common thing in France to see a professor of fruit-culture and his class assembled round a tree pruning it and discussing every operation as it goes on. We require walls for our fruit-trees more than the French do, and there is no way in which we need improvement more than in the matter of the proper covering of fruit-walls and development of wall-trees. With standard trees, pruning may be dispensed with to some extent; but so long as we are obliged to devote walls to the production of our finer fruits, such knowledge as is now possessed by French fruit-growers would prove a great aid.

In the vegetable department we have also several important things to learn from the French, and not the least among these is the winter and spring culture of Salads. Enormous quantities of these are sent from Paris to our and other markets during the spring months. As I write this (April 19th) the market-gardens near London are faintly traced with light green lines of weak young Lettuce-plants, that have been for weeks barely existing under the influences of our harsh spring. Around Paris at the same season and for months before, in consequence of the adoption of the cloche and a most skilful system of culture, it is a pleasure to see the size and perfect health of the Lettuces—the difference in culture, and not the imaginary difference in climate, solely producing the result. By adopting the French system they may be grown to fully as great perfection near London and in the home counties as near Paris. The fact that we have to be supplied by our neighbours with articles that could be so easily produced in this country is a standing reproach. The French system will have the first difficulty to get over—that of people becoming used to it, and slightly changing their modes of culture to accommodate it ; but it must some day be universally adopted by us, and with the certain result of a great benefit being reaped from it by the horticulturists of the United Kingdom. This culture is, in all its stages, so distinct from what is done else-

INTRODUCTION. Xv where, that it is not surprising that growers do not even know how to begin. No doubt many still suppose that the tender Lettuces sent in such abundance to our markets in winter and spring come from some paradise in the south; these all the while being the result, in a harsh northern clime, of the most skilful cultivation I have ever seen adapted to the growth of a vegetable.

The French are also far before us in the culture and use of Asparagus, pursuing a system quite distinct from ours and growing | it so abundantly that for many weeks in spring it is an article of popular consumption. Some among us affect to ridicule French Asparagus in consequence of its being blanched nearly to the top of the shoot ; but to avoid this imperfection, if it be one, the grower has merely to adopt the superior mode of culture pursued by the French, but without blanching the shoot. But real students of Asparagus who have had much experience of its use both in France and England, and in its best state in both countries, will probably agree that he has but a very one-sided knowledge of Asparagus who prefers to eat it green. The experience of persons who abuse French Asparagus is frequently limited to samples that may have been cut in France a fortnight before they reach the table in England, having passed the intermediate time in travelling and losing quality in market or shop. However, nobody will deny that it ought to be more abundantly and better grown in this country. Parisian Mushroom-culture is interesting and curious in a degree of which few have any conception, as will be seen by a perusal of the chapter devoted to it. The sketches and plan that illustrate it will help the reader to obtain a fair idea of places that have been seen by very few people beyond the cultivators.

Among my own I have given illustrations from trustworthy French sources, such as Dubreuil’s ‘ Arbres Fruitiers,’ Decaisne and Naudin’s ‘Manuel de Amateur des Jardins;’ from the collections of engravings belonging to Messrs. Vilmorin, Messrs, Hachette, from Mangin’s ‘Les Jardins,’ the ‘Revue Horticole,’ and ‘La Culture du Chasselas,’ but these, as a rule, only when they were as useful in their way as if made specially for the book. Such illustrations have been used for the most part in discussing modes of culture at once good and different from those employed by us, and which have naturally been treated of by xvi INTRODUCTION.

French authors. The main source of such ideas as are expressed in the book is personal observation in the gardens of Paris of every kind, at various seasons and for a considerable length of time.

Since the first edition of the work was published, a variety of trials have been made concerning certain modes of culture described in it. Of improvements then advocated the preservation of Grapes without letting them hang on the Vines, has been adopted by most good Grape-growers throughout the land; Asparagus on the distinct and wholly superior French plan has been tried with exactly the same excellent result as in the neighbourhood of Paris; the true Paradise stock has been tried in various districts and found quite hardy and excellent on moist and stiff soils; the cordon system for choice Apples and late-keeping Pears grown on walls has been proved to be a great success ; the light, neat system of wiring garden-walls, forming espaliers and supports for fruit-trees,has been carried out in numerous gardens, and a great quantity of wide and effective coping for wall-trees has been erected throughout the country with very good results.

CONTENTS,

CHAP.

I.—Tue Bots pe Boulogne II.—Tur Parc Monceau III.—Tue Garpen or Prants .

IV.—Tue Parc pes Burres CHaumont : F ‘ V.—Tue GarpENs oF THE Louvre, THE TUILERIES, AND THE ELYs&e . Z VI.—Tue Luxemsoura GARDEN VIT.—Tue Bors pz Vincennes .

VIII.—Saquargs . - " is IX.—AVENUES aND BouLEVARDS X.—TReeEs For CIrizs

XI.—Tue Jarpin FLEURISTE AND OTHER Pusiic NURSERIES OF THE Ciry or Paris

XIIL—THe Cemevreries or Paris

XIII.—Ivy in Paris . : P

XIV.—THE GaRDENS OF VERSAILLES .

XV.—WintTER GARDENS : ‘

XVI—A Frew Notes on PrivaTE GARDENS : XVII.—Tue ScHoou or Horricutture at VERSAILLES . XVIII.—Tue Corpon System or Fruit-GRowING

XIX.—Tue Panavise, Doucix, anp CraB Stocks

XX.—Some Notes on FRUIT-GARDENS

XXI.—Tue Peace Garpens or Montrevin P ‘ r . XXII.—Fic-cuLtTuRE IN THE NEIGHBOURHOOD oF Paris . XXITII.—Trainine s ; ; ‘ ‘ XXIV.—Frovir-cuttureE: How ARE WE To IMPRovE? XXV.—CoxcERNING CERTAIN IMPLEMENTS AND APPLIANCES USED IN

French GARDENS ‘ ‘

Xviil CONTENTS.

CHAP.

XXVI.—Tue Market-Garpens or Paris ‘ ‘i

XXVII.—AspPaRaGus-cULTURE : x P

XXVIII.—SatapDs In Paris : F : XXIX.—Some VEGETABLES or THE Paris MARKET XXX.—MusuRoom-cuLTuRE IN CAVES UNDER Panis XXXI.—Linacs or tae Paris GARDENS : XXXIU.—FrLower, Fruit, AND VEGETABLE MARKETS

INDEX . ‘ .

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

TREES AND BUILDINGS Bors DE BouLoane

Ivy-ctap Rocks anp Hicu Latena

CoRNER FOR PLAY

A City AVENUE GARDEN A ConrRAstT

GROUPS OF STATUARY .

WINTER GARDEN

Lake and Island View

Rocky Grottoes in Banks, ‘clothed with Ivy .

Rustic Bridge ‘between Wooded Islands

The “Grand” Cascade in the Bois de Boulogne .

Plantations on Banks of ‘Lake; rock-shrubs and small cascades .

False Curves to Banks. .

Rocky a of Island in Lago Mag: giore. .

Water margin in Loch Achray 5

View by the Seine, looking north from near the Bridge of Suresnes

Weeping Beech on eae Bank of Island 7

Bois de Boulogne

Sketch in the Pare Monceau

Hardy Bamboo (Bambusa me in the Parc Monceau

Castor-oil Plant

Giant Knotweed (Polygonum "sachalinense) in the Pare Moncean, Sept. 1877. .

Tropical Arum (after a storm), Pare Monceau_.. :

Montagnea Heracleifolia ‘

Musa Ensete, in the Pare Moncean, 1868. .

Beauty of form from Hardy Plants

Isolated Ferula on Grass

Frontispiece To face page 16 ” 68 - 126 4 136 ” 178 ” 194 35 224 —+1 PAGE 3) Rhus glabra laciniata. Hardy shrub, cut down annually to secure fine 5 foliage . 7 | Aralia japonica (Hort.). Hordy shrub with fine leaves . 9 | Ailantus and Cannas .

Group and single specimens of ‘Plants 11 isolated on the Grass 12 | Portion of plan showing Yuccas, Pampas grass, Tritomas, Retinospora, 13 Acanthus latifolius, Arundo, Donax 13 variegata, etc., irregularly isolated on the Grass z : . . 15 | Nook in Parc Monceau .

Japanese Honeysuckle on Stem of Birch- 17 tree, Parc Monceau 18 [ Clematis on Trees in May, Parc Monceau 21 | Ugly and needless Structures in the Pare Monceau ‘i 22 | Roads in the Pare Monceau. How to 23 spoil a Garden Cocked-up Flower-bed in the Pare Monceau 24 | Plan of the Jardin des Plantes. How not to lay out a Botanic Garden 25 | Old Judas-tree, Garden of Plants 26 | New Weeping Honey Locust (Gleditschia Bojoti), Garden of Plants 27 | Algerian Ivy, Garden of Plants . ‘ 29 | Cedrela Sinensis (New Tree), Garden 50. of Plants s e

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32 33

36 37

39 41

42 43 43

46 47

49 51 xx

The Jujube-tree (Zizyphus jujuba), Garden of Plants .

Clipped Trees in the Garden of Plants.

Effect of large umbelliferous Plant, Garden of Plants . F

Sacred Bean in the open air.

Climbing Hardy Asparagus, Garden of Plants . .

Old Acacia-tree, Garden of Plants

Planting of Stream above Stalactite Cave, Parc des Buttes Chaumont

Unmutilated Shrubs on Turf, Pare des Buttes Chaumont ;

Type of Modern French Garden plan :

View from Central Cliff towards Stalactite Caves . . .

Rock-shrubs and trailing evergreens F

Group of Rocks, Pare des Buttes Chaumont

Little Gardens within the Louvre exterior view

Little Gardens within the Louvre, view from the interior .

The Survival of the most Unfit: Trees in Tubs. :

In the Inner Garden, Tuileries

Vicious mode of Tree-planting

Marble Seat, Tuileries Garden

In the Garden of the Elysée

Flowers in Hollow Wall

Climbing Rose isolated on Grass

Wreaths on Trees, Luxembourg Gardens

Fountain in the Gardens of the Luxembourg

English part of Luxembourg Gardens .

The Gardens and Palace of the Luxembourg

Border of Roses, Luxembourg Gardens

Streamlet issuing from Ivy - clad Rock .

Small Lake with Chateau, in distance : : weeping and erect Trees on Islet,

View across larger Lake . 3

Rocky Streamlet with Yuccas and trailing Shrubs . A A :

Streamlet entering Lake .

Margin of Lake near Temple, with tuft of Giant Arundo .

Near Lac des Minimes, showing bad effect of Road and Walk parallel with margin é 7

In the Square des Batignolles

Portion of Margin of a Paris Square, not hedged in ,

In the Square Montrouge, ev ening—(a wretched statue is omitted) .

Showing widening of Walk for Playground, with Seats and Shade-giving Trees, F . . . .

PAGE

55 57

58 59

61 63

69 71

73 75

77 80 81

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

Streamlet in Paris Square with Yuccas and Water-side Plants . .

Acanthus on Turf in Paris Square

Margin of a London Square, with edge of Plantation designed to cut off the view .

Structure in centre of a London Square

A Town Square opened up

The Square and Fountain des Innocents

Tuft of large Grass a a in Paris Square é .

Planes on Paris Quays 5

Glass-covered Corridor between the Plant-houses in the Jardin Fleuriste

Diagram showing the arrangement of a group of Glass Houses in the Jardin Fleuriste

Caves under the Jardin Fleuriste, used for storing tender Plants in Winter.

Propagating-house in the Jardin Fleuriste .

End view of. Range of Small-plant Houses in the Jardin Fleuriste

In a Paris Cemetery in the Nineteenth Century

View in an American Garden-cemetery, 1876.

A Contrast: the Cemetery of Pare la Chaise A . . . .

St. Clothilde .

Ivy in Wreaths and Sheets on Railings of Suburban Gardens (Auteuil)

Ivy on Trees in Champs Elysées .

Rocky Caves covered with Ivy . .

Small-leaved Ivy on Tree in Paris Square * ‘ we