GARDENER'S MAGAZINE, OCTOBER, 1830. PART I. ORIGINAL CORRESPONDENCE. ART. I. Notes and Reflections made during a Tour through Part of France and Germany, in the Autumn of the Year 1828. By the CONDUCtor. (Continued from p. 392.) THE public gardens of recreation in and around Paris are numerous, and they are all of them more conspicuously, and perhaps more truly, scenes of enjoyment than the public gardens of England; because the French are more gay and social in their enjoyments than the English. The Garden of the Tuilleries, once called royal, is, taking it altogether, perhaps the most interesting public garden in the world. We will not enter either on a history or a description of this garden; and, indeed, as we have other important business to transact on this bright morning of September 14th, we are determined that the present article shall be short. Besides, we feel that it would be a species of profanation, even in a Magazine of Gardening, to say much on any subject in which Paris is concerned, foreign from the glorious events which took place on the 27th, 28th, and 29th of July last; events which, sanguine as we are as to the destiny of the human race, and great as have of late been our expectations from the French (see pp. 474. and 514.), have produced results of which "we dare not have dreamed.”* When once society is freed from the trammels of antiquated institutions, the rapidity with which * See To the Tricolor, a poem, by T. Roscoe, Esq.; and the letters of O. P. Q. in the Morning Chronicle, a newspaper which has been justly designated by the French as the dignity and ornament of the British press. VOL. VI. the natural rights of man will gain the ascendency can only be compared to the rapid growth of a tree, which, after having been for many years clipped, is at last permitted to shoot forth in all the character and beauty of truth and nature; when its widely-spreading and vigorous branches soon burst through the limits to which the tree had been previously confined by the tonsor, and a formal and insipid piece of verdure becomes in time one of the noblest subjects of the forest. The Gardens of the Tuilleries are invaluable from their situation in the centre of Paris, and from their being open at all times to all the world. They have open airy walks for winter, and shady walks and deep yet airy groves for summer; flower-borders, in which a constant succession of showy flowering plants is kept up; lawn, kept green by daily watering; fountains, which, however, do not play so frequently or so magnificently as they should; and a number of very beautiful statues. During the summer, the principal walks are bordered by lofty orange trees in tubs: and what is singular respecting these trees is, that the blossom, being a perquisite of the gardener, is always plucked off before they are set out, and sold, for his benefit, to the orange-flower-water manufacturers; so that the trees are not half so ornamental as they would be if covered with fruit and blossom.* As to the delicious perfume which these blossoms would afford, we could write a volume upon the subject. Whoever has walked in the orange orchards at Nervi, knows that the quantity of orange trees distributed in the Gardens of the Tuilleries, if allowed to retain and expand their blossoms, would scent not only the air of the gardens but of half Paris. If there are any who deny this, we ask them to account for the orange fragrance of the air for miles around Genoa and Naples, both by sea and land. If all the public gardens in Paris were moderately stocked with orange trees, and a few distributed along the Boulevards (and the Parisian populace are sufficiently cultivated not to touch either the blossoms or the fruit of trees thus confided to their care for their advantage), the entire atmosphere would be that of the Island of St. Sprigs of orange trees in blossom, and wreaths of the same, are sold in the markets at Paris throughout the year (the trees being forced in the winter season), to be worn at marriages; the bride being crowned with a wreath, and the bouquets being distributed amongst her attendants. In the evening the wreath is divided into small pieces, and eagerly sought for by the young female friends of the bride, who believe it to possess the same qualities as are attributed to pieces of the bride-cake in England. We have seen sprigs of orange trees worn at marriages in this country; and we rejoice to observe the striking manner in which the customs of two nations, so formed to be united as England and France, are beginning to amalgamate. Note by J. L. Cobham. Sept. 15. Michael: nor would this perfuming en masse surpass other improvements of the age; lighting by gas, for example. By the judicious distribution of orange trees, and of other odoriferous flowers, shrubs, and plants, or even by mignonette alone, the air of any city might be rendered as odoriferous as that of a garden. When the many have once conquered from the few what is necessary and convenient, they will then attempt what is agreeable and refined; and, with the knowledge of the wonderful resources of nature and art, requisite to give them the sovereignty of society, they will succeed. But, to return to the orange trees at the Tuilleries, or, to speak our minds freely, all those kept in tubs in the open garden every where, we should greatly prefer having the tubs or boxes sunk in the borders, and covered and disguised in such a way as would convey the idea that the trees were growing in the natural soil. Nothing could be easier to execute; and we recommend this, and also the subject of plucking off the blossoms, to the proper authorities. We are aware of the allegation, that suffering the fruit to come to maturity would weaken the tree, &c. &c.; but it is the gardener's business to supply the tree with strength; and we know he can supply it when his interest does not interfere. * (To be continued.) ART. II. Notice of the Gardens of the Hon. and Rev. W. Herbert at Spofforth. By N. H. S. AT Spofforth, a mean-looking straggling village, about four miles south of Harrogate, is the residence of that eminent botanist the Hon. and Rev. William Herbert, brother to the present Earl of Caernarvon. Mr. Herbert is a gentleman of good private fortune; and the rectory of Spofforth is said to bring him in an income of 2500l. per annum. As a botanist Mr. Herbert is well known: he is also a most accomplished scholar, an eloquent preacher, and a poet. (See his Helga, 2 vols.) The rectory house has nothing about it to deserve either encomium or disparagement. The gardens nearly *Since writing the above, we have seen, in the Times (Sept. 24.), an intention expressed of pulling down the Tuilleries, to rebuild a palace for the use of the three princes. We should not be sorry to see that part of the Tuilleries pulled down which is said to be in a state of decay, and rebuilt as a continuation of the National Galleries of Sculpture and Painting; but most deeply should we regret to hear of a palace for a prince being built in France after what the French have done. The days for erecting palaces for individual kings, we trust, are gone never to return, not only in France but throughout Europe: a government palace is a different thing. surround it, and are rich in rhodendrons, azaleas, kalmias, &c., together with the most choice irises, African gladioli, and hybrids of the greatest variety and beauty, which may be sought for in vain elsewhere. In front of the stove and green-house, the borders are filled with the most choice bulbs, as crinums, amaryllis, pancratiums, cyrtanthus, cannas, &c., which bloom in such perfection as few green-houses, or even hot-houses, can boast. Here are also beautiful rock plants and many choice aquatics, with gold fishes, in a small pond. The noble curvilinear conservatory (which opens into a drawing-room) seems to be admirably managed, if we may judge from the luxuriance and size of the Australian and Cape acacias, liparias, beaufortias, melaleucas, leucadendrons, and other choice shrubs, with which it is planted: along the front glasses is a raised border, 2 to 3 ft. broad, in which are planted many splendid creepers and climbers, as platylobiums, glycines, kennedias, and choice calceolarias, salpiglossis, heaths, elichrysums, crotolarias, &c. &c. The stove is entirely a botanical one, and is literally crammed with rare and curious plants, including the beautiful ixoras, bignonias, hibiscus, passifloras; and at each end are a number of Orchideæ, parasites, epiphytes, &c., such as Dendrobium, Epidéndron, &c., some growing in baskets, some in pots, and others in the stumps of old trees; many of these are not to be found in any other place in England. The green-house joins the stove: in it are numerous camellias of extraordinary size and beauty, and many hybrids raised from seed by Mr. Herbert; and the tribe of ixias, gladioli, &c., on the raised border is endless. The bulb-house communicates with the green-house, and is so full of every variety of exotic bulbs that it is not easy to pass them. In this house are also very fine plants of Strelítzia, and Gloriosa supérba; several plants of that singular genus Mantísia saltatòria, or opera girls; and on the rafters some beautiful and rare climbing plants. Beyond the bulb-house is the heathery, in which many of the better varieties of those handsome plants, and some hybrids, &c., are found, as well as a numerous assemblage of mesembryanthema, cacti, pelargoniums, &c. The borders and beds in the garden have every thing rare and curious, from the superb magnolia to the Neapolitan violet. The site of the kitchen-garden is not good; nevertheless it appears to be highly productive. There is a small flued pit, in which a few grapes, pines, and melons are grown. On the whole, Mr. Herbert's collection cannot fail to please any one fond of plants; but I regret one thing that truth obliges me to mention: the garden is not easy of access for those who find themselves without an introduction. Mr. Herbert is said to be a very amiable man, enthusiastically attached to his garden, in which he spends much time: if, therefore, he allowed his collection to be shown to all callers, he would in the summer months be every day annoyed with company from Harrogate, who, having little to do, are constantly going from one showplace to another; some from a real love of science, and others to drive away ennui, which the tedium of a watering-place very commonly produces. Newton-Kyme, June 19. 1830. N. H. I. ART. III. Some Account of the Progress of an Experiment going on in Monmouthshire, for bettering the Condition of the Labouring Classes. By JOHN H. MOGGRIDGE, Esq. Sir, ALTHOUGH considerable time has elapsed since my last communication to you on the subject of my experiment for bettering the condition of the labouring classes (Vol. III. p. 167.), yet have I not forgotten my promise of occasionally notifying its progress to you. It has now nearly two years and a half of experience more to boast of than when I trans-mitted you the last particulars of its state and circumstances; and although these have been (and must be still more, I fear) very injuriously affected by the distress which generally, if not universally, pervades the country, yet has nothing occurred to invalidate the principle on which the experiment was founded, or even to occasion doubt as to its continued local : success. On the contrary, the effects of the pressure of the times, and of the impolitic attempts which have been made, with partial success, to fasten direct local taxation on the laudable exertions of humble industry to set itself above want in sickness and old age, and to reassume a portion at least of that independence of spirit which their forefathers possessed, have only added other proofs in support of the fact, — that the labouring classes in this country have been degraded, impoverished, and demoralised, much more by the baneful system of misgovernment to which the country has been long subjected, than to any inherent vice in their own constitution, or any personal fault of their own. The partial imposition of poor-rates, church-rates, and highway-rates, though fortunately defeated in the intention of its being made general, and confined to that which the strict letter of the law unhap |