19, Rockwork and rustic seat.

20, Artificial spring and rocks. The water that enters by this spring comes from the manufactory (1), to which it is raised from the Seine for various useful purposes.

21, Two Doric columns, surmounted by marble statues.

22, Terrace walk supported by a lofty wall, near the base of which is the Seine. From this terrace magnificent views are obtained.

23, Avenues, chiefly of horsechestnuts, clipped so as to form columns joined by arches. The soil being dry and gravelly, the trees are very prolific in nuts, which were eaten greedily by the goats, as well as the leaves of the chestnut and other trees, when properly dried, and stacked up for winter use.

24, Statues on pedestals.

25, Lawn sprinkled with shrubs in the natural manner, sloping from 17 to 16. 26, Elevated lawns, planted in the natural manner, and kept verdant and close in summer by nightly waterings.

27, Shady winding walks à l'Anglaise.

28, Point shaded by trees, from underneath which the master-views of the place are obtained.

There are several small Villas in the Neighbourhood of Scéaux worthy of notice. All these, as well as the public garden of that place, were formed out of the park of Penthièvres. Next in interest to the grounds of Admiral Tchitchagoff are those of M. Vandermarcq: the former depends chiefly on art, the latter on nature. It consists of twenty or thirty acres, with considerable diversity of surface. It was laid out during the consulate, for Mademoiselle Mars, the celebrated actress, by the architect Berthoud, who laid out Malmaison. The place is not without considerable beauties, but it is deficient in small groups; and, when we saw it, it was, like most other French villas, very badly kept. The villa of the Countess de Bruce is chiefly remarkable for its green-houses and its exotics; that of M. Comte for the architectural remains of the palace of Penthièvres; and that of M. Sartoris is a good deal in the English manner.

The Natural, or English, Style of Landscape-Gardening is neither generally understood nor duly appreciated in France; chiefly, we believe, because the whole kingdom, as far as we have either heard or observed, does not contain a single good example. There is no want of romantic scenery in various districts; but there is almost every where a want of close green turf, of evergreen shrubs, and of good adhesive gravel. These natural defects are aggravated, rather than concealed, by the excess of art; by too many walks; by too many seats and buildings; and by too meagre a distribution of trees and evergreen shrubs. The defects of nature can never be altogether overcome; more especially the want of dark green turf; but we do not object to sanded instead of gravel walks, provided they have not deep harsh edges, and are neither too

numerous nor too perpetually serpentining, without real or apparent cause. In general, the walks, in Continental imitations of the English manner of laying out grounds, are too close together, and so much alike in their lines of direction, that, in flat grounds more especially, the effect is monotonous. In the park of Madame Cayla (fig. 25.), which is on an even surface, and sparingly though scientifically sprinkled with wood, the multiplicity of walks which every where meet the eye of the spectator destroys alike grandeur, richness, and repose. On hilly surfaces, like that of the park of M. Doublat (fig. 28.), a greater number of walks in proportion to the actual extent of surface is admissible than on levels; because both the quantity of surface and of wood appear much greater than they really are. The cause of this appearance is, that a rising surface presents a larger angle to the eye than a level one. What aggravates the faults of English gardens in France is, the very slovenly manner in which they are generally kept; extent there, as in England, being more the object of ambition than excellence. There are, however, exceptions, both in regard to the knowledge of the principles of landscapegardening and the want of order and keeping; and it gives us the greatest pleasure, to be able to state our conviction that there are no men, in any country, more thoroughly imbued with the science and spirit of the art of laying out grounds in the natural, or English, style than M. Soulange Bodin and M. Gabriel Thouin; nor any places in England more neatly kept than Fromont, Radepont, M. Boursault's garden at Paris, M. Ternaux's at St. Ouen, and that of Admiral Tchitchagoff, at Sceaux, were, when we saw them in 1828.

The Improvement of Landscape-Gardening in France will proceed rapidly in connection with other improvements; and, above all things, when France and Britain shall be so far assimilated in the price of the necessaries of life as to admit of the gardeners and amateurs of both countries visiting each other; not, as at present, for a few days or weeks, confined to the neighbourhood of London, or the neighbourhood of Paris; but for months or years, to be spent in visiting the finest gardens in the provinces. The turf of France might be very much improved by employing a proper selection of grasses, and by previously cultivating and manuring the soil: improved, indeed, to an extent that few could believe who have not seen the effect produced by the mixture of grass seeds for lawns used by Mr. Sinclair in England, and by M. Vilmorin in France. If the two particulars we have mentioned were attended to, the lawns would be much thicker

and closer, and they would by that means retain more moisture in the soil, so as to continue growing, and consequently green, during summer. The same selection of grasses will insure a uniformity of growth in lawns and pastures, instead of that coarseness and tuftiness which is now almost every where common in lawns on dry soils. The recent invention of a mowing machine, which operates better on dry grass than on a moist surface, will also contribute greatly to the improvement of the lawns in France, and in other countries with very dry warm summers; more especially when this machine shall be so much enlarged and improved as to be worked by a horse. The sands and gravels of France are generally loose, and very disagreeable to work on: by mixing the gravels with burnt clay pulverised, or the sands with tar, or any oily or greasy matter, they will become hard, so as not to require that continual hoeing and raking which, in their present state, renders them more like ground newly sown with seeds than paths for walking on. Evergreen shrubs do not thrive very well in France, from the great severity of the winters; it is surprising how few there are in the natural woods every where; and the gardens in the neighbourhood of Paris present a dreary appearance during several months every year, for want of what contributes so much to the beauty of those in the neighbourhood of London during the same season. This defect may be remedied by the more free use of the hardier evergreens, such as box, yew, holly, juniper, common and Portugal laurel, butcher's broom, ivy, &c.: of the rapidgrowing evergreens, such as the Ulex Spártium, &c. (which, if they are easily killed by frost, are easily renewed from seed), and by planting the more tender American evergreens, as rhododendrons, kalmias, vacciniums, &c., under the protection of deciduous trees, in the manner of undergrowths to them. In short, though we cannot altogether agree with the patriotic sentiment of our excellent friend Soulange Bodin (Annales de Fromont, tom. iii. p. 96.), in his assertion that France is preeminently the country of landscape-gardening, yet we are confident that there is no defect in that country, either natural or artificial, which may not be greatly mitigated, if not entirely removed, by the resources of art.

The Improvement which an English Landscape-Gardener may derive from studying the state of his art in France is greater than might at first sight appear. By observing the exaggeration of either beauties or deformities, the causes of the pleasure or the dislike that they excite are more easily discovered; and consequently our resources for enlarging the one or diminishing the other increased. Moderation in the

use of walks is a lesson taught by almost every French garden; and not less so the use of depth of perspective in most views, whether limited to the interior, or extending across the boundary. In general, all that leads an artist to recognise and appreciate the minds of others in their works, has a tendency to lead him to infuse a superiority of mind into his own.

In our next we shall take the gardens of Baden, and afterwards those of Bavaria and Wirtemberg, which will complete (To be continued.)

our notes.

ART. II. A few Remarks on the State of Gardening in Lower Canada, and particularly in the Neighbourhood of Montreal. By A. P. HART, Esq., Barrister at Law, of Montreal, Lower Canada, Fellow Mont. Nat. Hist. Soc. &c.

Sir,

ON perusing, this morning, the 39th number of your invaluable magazine (Vol. VIII. p. 385.), I could not avoid reproaching my friend and client, Mr. Robert Cleghorn, one of our most respectable nurserymen here, and the proprietor of Blinkbonny Garden, near this city, for his laziness in allowing 39 numbers of the Gardener's Magazine to be published, without contributing a single communication to it. To show you that at least in Montreal we do not altogether neglect horticulture, I threatened that if he did not bestir himself I should be in the field before him; and being confined to my bed-room, of which I have been an inmate from illness for a month back, I this evening thought that I could not better employ my time than in giving you a slight sketch of the state of horticulture in Lower Canada, and particularly in the neighbourhood of Montreal, trusting that it may not prove altogether uninteresting to your readers.

Horticulture, far from being neglected, is very much attended to, in Lower Canada, and particularly in Montreal; and no better proof can be adduced than our supporting three or four large nurseries. It is true that we cannot exhibit the gardens of private individuals containing ranges of hot-houses, conservatories, &c., which cannot be supposed to be common in a young country; but we have our miniature villas and gardens, which, though not of great extent, still contain varieties of fruits, of flowers, and every species of culinary vegetable.

It has been very erroneously supposed, that, owing to the shortness of our summers, and the extreme length and cold

of our winters, few fruits will ripen with us: but quite the contrary is the fact. The frequent and warm rains of April and May, and the very intense heat of our summer which succeeds, cause so rapid a course of vegetation, that many fruits ripen here in the open air, and as standards, which can only be matured in England and the north of France as espaliers, or by the assistance of artificial heat: we only require hot-houses for the purpose of ripening or forcing tropical fruits, and fruits in winter. There is hardly an exotic which we cannot bring into full flower in our dwelling-houses, where we are obliged in winter to keep up a great degree of heat. Should we wish to possess any extensive assortment, of course a hot-house would be required.

The following are the Montreal nurseries and gardens: Blinkbonny Garden, situate at Côte à Baron, owned and carried on by Mr. Robert Cleghorn, is the oldest and decidedly the most respectable establishment of the kind in Montreal. Mr. Cleghorn has paid great attention to the introduction and cultivation of fruit trees, of which great numbers are disposed of annually by him: his trees are always healthy and good-looking; and, as I am in the constant habit of frequenting his garden, in which I may call myself a privileged man, I can testify as to its neatness and order. No catalogue has been published from Blinkbonny for some years; but, from my own knowledge, Mr. Cleghorn cultivates and has for sale about thirty good kinds of apples, about fifteen or eighteen kinds of pear, about as many kinds of plum, four or five kinds of cherry, as many of grape, about six or eight kinds of gooseberry, besides other fruits, and a large collection of perennial, herbaceous, and green-house plants; among which I must notice his collection of ericas and aloes. Blinkbonny exhibits also an extensive collection of indigenous plants and trees.

Donnellan's Garden stands next to Blinkbonny; and though my Hibernian friend Donnellan and I may differ a little in our political way of thinking, we agree perfectly in our ideas of gardening; and I must do Donnellan the justice to say that he possesses a most capital and promising nursery; and his addition of a green-house to his establishment (I omitted to state there is one at Blinkbonny), heated by flues in winter, and present collection of green-house plants, bid fair to make us rich in the introduction of new exotics. Mr. Donnellan has a fine collection of carnations, which he is successful in raising from seed, and in propagating from pipings, though I prefer the system (which I always follow) of layering (margotter, as the Canadians call it). Mr. Donnellan is also a marketgardener.