I went once to Versailles; there is hardly any thing in the palace but
the bare walls, a very few of the looking-glasses, tapestry, and large
pictures remaining, as it has now been near two years uninhabited. I
crossed the great canal on foot; there was not a drop of water in it.
In the _Menagerie_ I saw the Rhinoceros, which has been 23 years there;
there is likewise a lion, with a little dog in the same den, as his
companion, and a zebra.
The collection of orange trees cannot be matched in any country where
these trees do not grow naturally; the number is about six hundred, the
largest trunk is about fifteen inches in diameter, and the age of the
most ancient of these trees exceeds three centuries.
The _Jardin Potager_, or kitchen garden, is of fifty acres, divided into
about five or six and twenty small gardens, of one, two, or three acres,
walled round, both for shelter to the plants, and for training fruit
trees against. One of these gardens, of two acres, was entirely allotted
to the culture of melons, and these were all of the warty _rock
cantalupe_ kind, and were growing under hand-glasses, in the manner of
our late cucumbers for pickling.
The season had been so unfavourable for wall-fruit, that (as the
gardener told me) all these gardens had yielded less than a dozen
peaches and nectarines.
The fruit was sent regularly to the Royal Family in Paris.
There is a botanical garden at the _Petit Trianon_ in the park of
Versailles, but the person who shews it was out of the way, so that I
did not see it.
I passed several mornings in the Botanical National Garden, (_ci-devant
Jardin du Roi_.) That part of the garden which contains the botanical
collection is separated from the other part, which is open to the public
at large, by iron palisades. The names of the plants are painted on
square plates of tin, stuck in the ground on the side of each plant. I
saw a _Strelitzia_, which was there called _Ravenala_, (probably from
some modern botanist's name) _Mr. Thouin_, who superintends this garden,
said to me, "We will not have any aristocratic plants, neither will we
call the new Planet by any other name than that of its discoverer,
_Herschel_." I neglected to ask him why the plant might not retain its
original and proper name of _Heliconia Bihai_?
[Illustration: ANASTATICA or ROSE of JERICHO]
I here found the _Anastatica Hierochuntica_ or _Rose of Jericho_, which
I sought for in vain for several years, and advertised for in the
_Gentleman's Magazine_, for January 1791, and in the newspapers. Many
descriptions and figures of this plant are to be found in old books, and
the dried plants are frequently to be met with. Old _Gerard_ very justly
says, "The coiner spoiled the name in the mint, for of all plants that
have been written of, there is not any more unlike unto the rose." The
annexed figure represents a single plant; it had been transplanted into
a deep pot, which had been filled with earth, so as to make it appear
like two plants. The stalks are shrubby, the leaves are fleshy, and of a
glaucous or sea-green colour. The _corolla_ consists of four very small
white petals. Its scientific description may be found in _Linnæus_[12].
One of the _silicles_ is drawn magnified.
[Note 12: _Genera plantarum_, 798.]
Mr. Thouin pointed out to me a new and very beautiful species of
_Zinnia_, of which the flower is twice the size of that of the common
sort, and of a deep purple colour: a new _verbascum_, from the Levant;
it was about four feet high, the leaves were almost as woolly as those
of the _Stachys lanata_, and terminated in a point like a spur; it had
not yet flowered. And a new _solanum_, with spines the colour of gold.
He recommended the flower of the _spilanthus brasiliana_, which our
nurserymen call _Verbesina_ _acmella_ as an excellent dentifrice.
I also found here the _amethystea, coerulea_: this annual has been lost
in England above twenty years.[13]
[Note 13: The seeds which are sold in the London shops, for those of
this plant, are those of the _hyssopus bracteatis_.]
The _datura fastuosa_, the French call _Trompette du jugement à trois
fleurs l'une dans l'autre_; I have myself raised these with triple
flowers, both purple and white, though some of our nurserymen pretended
the flowers were never more than double. The _anthemis arabica_, a very
singular and pretty annual. A _zinnia hybrida_, which last has not yet
been cultivated in England. Twenty-two sorts of _medicago polymorpha,
(snails and hedgehogs_) of these I had seen only four in England.
Here was a small single moss-rose plant, in a pot, which is the only one
I ever saw in France. The air is too hot for those roses, and for the
same reason none of the American plants, such as the _magnolia_ (tulip
tree) _kalmia_, &c. thrive in France, though kept in pots in the shade
and well watered; the heat of the atmosphere dries the trunk of these
trees. But there are many other plants, to the growth of which the
climate is much more favourable than it is in England. In the open part
of this garden are a great number of _bignonia-catalpa_ trees, which
were then in flower, resembling horse-chesnut flowers at a distance, but
much larger and more beautiful; and many _nerium oleander_ trees, in
wooden chests; several of these trees are about eight feet high and the
trunk a foot in diameter; they were then full of flowers of all the
sorts, single and double, red and white; these are placed in the
green-house in the winter.
On a mount in this garden is a _meridien sonnant_ (sounding meridian)
this is an iron mortar which holds four pounds of gunpowder, it is
loaded every morning, and exactly at noon the sun discharges the piece
by means of a burning glass, so placed that the _focus_ at that moment
fires the powder in the touch-hole. The first meridian that was made of
this kind is in the garden of the _Palais Royal_, at the top of one of
the houses; I could not see it, but it is thus described in the _Paris
Guide_: "The touch-hole of the cannon is two inches long and half a line
(the twentieth part of an inch) broad, this length is placed in the
direction of the meridian line. Two _transoms_ or _cross-staves_ placed
vertically on a horizontal plane, support a _lens_ or burning glass,
which, by their means, is fixed according to the sun's height monthly,
so as to cause the _focus_ to be exactly over the touch-hole at noon. It
is said to have been invented by _Rousseau_." Small meridians of this
sort are sold in the shops; these are dials of about a foot square,
engraven on marble, with a little brass cannon and a _lens_.
The market for plants and flowers in pots, and for nosegays, is kept on
the _Quai de la Megisserie_, twice a week, very early in the morning;
the following were the most abundant: _Nerium_ double flowering
pomegranate, _vinca rosea_, (Madagascar periwinkle) _prickly lantana,
peruvian heliotropium_ (turnsole) tuberoses, with very large and
numerous single and double flowers, and very great quantities of common
sweet basil, which is much used in cookery.
I visited the apothecaries garden, and also two or three nursery gardens
in that neighbourhood, but found nothing remarkable in them.
There are many gardens in the environs of Paris which are worthy of
notice, but I was prevented from seeing them in consequence of the
disturbances hereafter mentioned. In the books which describe these
places, I find the village of _Montreuil-sous-le-Bois_ particularly
mentioned on account of its fertility. In the _Tableau de Paris_ it is
said, "Three acres of ground produce to the proprietor twenty thousand
livres annually, (near 800 guineas.) The rent of an acre is six hundred
livres, and the king's tax sixty (together about six and twenty
guineas.) The peaches which are produced here are the finest in the
world, and are sometimes sold for a crown a piece. When a prince has
given a splendid entertainment, three hundred Louis d'ors worth of these
fruits have been eaten." It is situated on a hill, just above
_Vincennes_, about three miles from the fauxbourg _Saint Antoine_, and
is likewise celebrated for its grapes, strawberries, all sorts of wall
fruit, pease, and every kind of esculent vegetables. In the garden
called _Mouceaux_ which belongs to the _ci-devant Duke of Orleans_; at
the extremity of the _fauxbourg du Roule_ are, it is said, magnificent
hot-houses, of which I have no recollection, though I was in the garden
in 1776. There is a description of these gardens in print, with sixteen
copper plates. In the _Luxembourg_ gardens only common annuals were
growing, such as marigolds, sun-flowers, &c. probably self sown; neither
were there in the _Tuileries_ gardens, which I afterwards saw, any
remarkable plants.
I bought very large peaches in the markets at 30 _sous_ each, the
ordinary ones were at 10 _sols_. The melons (which are brought to market
in waggons, piled up like turnips in England) were all of the netted
sort, and of so little flavor, that they would not be worth cultivating,
were it not for the sake of cooling the mouth in hot weather; they were
sold at 15 or 20 sous each. Strawberries were still plentiful (second
week in August.) _Cerneaux_, which are the kernel of green walnuts, were
just coming into season.
I had now no opportunity of acquiring any more knowledge of the plants
in France, and shall only add, that I passed the winter of 1783 and
1784, at _Marseille_ and at _Hieres_; and that besides oranges, lemons,
cedras,[14] pistachios, pomegranates, and a few date palm trees, I
found several species of _geranium_, myrtles, and _cactus opuntia_,
(Indian fig) growing in the soil, and likewise the _mimosa farnesiana_,
sweet scented sponge tree, or fragrant acacia, the flowers of which are
there called _fleurs de cassier_; these flowers, together with those of
the jasmine, and those which fall from the orange and lemon trees, are
sold to the perfumers of _Provence_ and _Languedoc_.
[Note 14: These trees are planted as close together as possible,
hardly eight feet asunder, and no room is left for any walks, so that
these gardens are, properly speaking, orange orchards. The oranges were
then sold at the rate of ten for a penny English.]
Among the small plants, the _arum arisarum_, (friar's cowl) and the
_ruscus aculeatus_ (butcher's broom) were the most conspicuous, this
latter is a pretty ever-green shrub, and the berries were there as large
as those of a common _solanum pseudo capsicum_, (Pliny's _amomum_, or
winter cherry) and of a bright scarlet colour, issuing from the middle
of the under surface of the leaves; I never saw any of these berries any
where else. _Parkinson_, in his _Theater of Plants_, 1640, says, after
describing three or four species of this genus, "They scarse beare
flower, much lesse fruite, in our land." Perhaps the berries might
ripen in our hot-houses.
Many _arbutus_, or strawberry-trees, grow here, but they are not equal
in size and beauty to many which I saw both in Portugal and in Ireland.
In 1784, _M. J. J. de St. Germain_, a nurseryman in the _Fauxbourg St.
Antoine_, published a book in 8vo of 400 pages, entitled _Manuel des
Vegetaux_, or catalogue in Latin and French, of all the known plants,
trees, and shrubs, in the world, arranged according to the system of
_Linnæus_; those plants which grow near Paris are particularly
specified, and a very copious French index is added to the Latin one.
The author died a few years ago; the plants were sold, and the nursery
ground is at present built upon.