Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1867-11-07
CURIOsITIEs OF FRENCH GARDEN

ING.
The visitor who passes through the
markets Of Paris cannot fail to be struck
by the size and beauty of the fruits
and vegetables displayed. There are
huge and perfect pears, a glisteniDg ar
raw of salads, enormous heads of snowy
%eaulihower, and giant stalks of sspara-
gus, which attract attention no less for
their size and faultless condition than for
vast quantities, all equally fine and large
Of their kind. These are due TO the
wonderful skill and patient industry Of
the French gardeners, who are unt-
qualled by any others, either here or in
Europe, in the art Of cultivating market
produce.
One cause of this superiority is the
devotion of the French to s~pecialities.
This system obtains as generally among
the gardeners as among the men of arts
and sciences. An American market
farmer or gardener divides his ground
into many lots, and plants nearly every
variety of truck known to the market.
The French gardener gives himself up
to the cultivation of a special long study
and practice, by experimenting with
various mauures, soils and modes Of
culture, arrives at the production of a
perfect crop of his speciality, season
after season, with unerring certainty.
He is also much more economical Of
space and more prOdigal OF labor than we
are, as, in fact, than We need be.
He seldom suffers his ground to lie
fallOW crop succeeds crop In end
less rotation; the cauliflower is set
among the melon bills, ready to
spread as soon as the melons are gath
cred. Between the rOws of asparagus
are planted early potatoes, lettuce, ETC.,
In such q manner as to keep the ground
constantly fruitful, aud when the weather
becomes frosty, and the sun loses q
gOodly share of its forcing power, large
bell glasses are employed, one of which
is placed over each plant-especially in
the case of the s~alsds-and heat Is thus
concentrated upon 1t until its full growth
is fairly attained.
The enormous size Of the French as
parsgus is chiefly due to the Il OF
planting. Instead of setting the plants
closely together, as we do, 8 space Of at
least six inches square is allowed to each
{" STOOL" which enables it to suck q large
amount of nutriment from the soil, and
become u strong and solid plant. Each
stool is also manured repeatedly every
season, the soil being carefully scraped
away down 10 the roots, the compost
placed around them and the earth put
back again.
The French system of ~cultivating the
apple, pear and peach is also peculiar.
The trees are all grated and dwarfed. A
strong wire is stretched along in front of
each row, about three feet above the
ground. Upon this wire a single branch
Of each tree is trained, and as
soOn as well started, this branch
is made, by heavy pruning, the only
fruit bearing n on the tree. The con-
sequence is that the entire strength OF
the tree goes to the noUrishing of the
fruit upon this branch, and this fruit be-
comes large and fair In proportion. This
process, by the by, is borrowed from the
Chinese.
The pear, however, is also largely
grown in the pyramidal and other forms,
almost always from dWaTfed stock.
In the cultivation Of the peach the
French gardeners hsve shown a curious
ana fanciful skill. Near the toOwn Of
Montreal, q few miles Only from Paris,
there is a large number Of gardens en-
closed In whitewsshed walls, against the
surface of which peach trees are trained
in many faneiful forms. One Of these is
known as the Napoleon Peach" This
is a specimen 50 trained as to figure in
very large letters against the wall the
name Napoleon, u asingle branch going
to the formation of each letter, and the
whole surrounded by a wreath composed
OF two large DOughs trained in a circle.
There are many other curiOsties in
French maTket-gardening and pomOl-
ogy, the details of which are too long for
the compass of a single article. These,
or ONE of them, may be spoken Of here
after.