The daily gazette., 1881-06-14
SECOND EDITION
OUR PARIS LETTER.

OUR PARIS LETTER.
Correspondence ofthe Gazette.
FLORENCE, May 80, 1881.
After last day spent in the sixty
acres of pictures and statuary of the
Louvre, We started for hume by way of
Italy.
From Paiis we followed the valley
of the Seine almost to its source,
through one of the richest and most
fruitful parts OF France. We then fol-
lowed the Soane valley to where it
merges in the Rhone, and thence the
Rhone to the Mediterranean Sea.
AT Fountainebleu we enter the dis
trict of the Chasselas grape, where
stone walls are built about six feet
high to which the vines are trained.
There are miles and miles of these
walls, which are considered necessary
in order TO grow the delicate giape
successfully. Fhesea vineyards con-
tlnue for some sixty miles to Dion,
where we enter the "Co.e d. Or" the
Burgundy wine district, where the
Chambsrtln, Clos Vouget, st. George
esAA many OthCt VI blAC hnCob Wlucb dIt
produced. These vines are not shell
tered by walls, but are grown on the
trellesed mountain sides. These .rel-
leses are the result of incredible labor.
There are sJmetimes more than q hun
dred OF them between the valley and
the mountain top, and they extend for
more than hundred miles along the
Rhone valley. The vines are now
about one foot in height. They are
allowed to grow to three feet, and bear
from one to three bunches each, of
from ole to four pounds to the bunch.
We were advised to drink the wine
of the country through which we pass
ed, which advice we ceased to follow
at very early stage Of our journey,
inasmuch as we foHnd the advice would
interfere with our usual steadiness of
department.
The Rhone and the Seine vallies are
bordered on both sides by ranges Of
high rocky limestone hills nearly the
whole way, and afford the finest wines
of France.
The cultivation of the soil here, as
elsewhere throughout the country, is
done in the most perfect manner. The
farms are from five to ten acres each
would astonish our farmers. Yet such
is the industry of the peasants that
they fud no trouble to pay the rents
and mary of them gave money after
raising their families.
All along the valley of the Rhone
marches the vestiges of an older aud
more savage generation thaa those
who inhabit the smiling homes in
these now fertile fields. Almost every
frowning crag is capped by a crumb-
ling castle. Vast Roman Amphithea-
tres encircle some of the mountain
, peaks. These are of immense size and
great strength. Many of them are
s..ll fifty to sixty feet high, with walls
from ten to eighteen feet thick.
At Lyons we saw only the outside
walls Of the vast silk factories, from
which the fashion and the beauties of
the world are clothed and garnished.
The mulberry is extensively grown in
the neighborhood, In orchards, and
carefully pruned and cultivate I. The
orchards extend southwark for about
fifty miles, and men, women and
children are everywhere seen picking
the leaves and bearing them to their
homes, where the s'lk wolms are
raised. The cocoons are sold to the
factories after the worm is destroyed
by hot water, and vary in price from
five francs per pound for white and
yellow, to eight francs for green color.
As we proceed southwark, the null
berry trees give way to orchards of
olive and almond trees, which are
planted in alternate rows. The OIL
ives are In blossom, the almonds laden
with puit. Grapes are everywhere,
but before we reach Marseilles the OIL
i've orchards monopolize most of the
ground and cover the whole country
around.
Four days of easy railroad travel
bring us to Marseilles, on tle blue
nj, iiterranean. Every thing about
the city seems SO ancient that We
seem transported back into the past
ages. We will not stop to dessribe
the town, though we here see so many
sig rs of the earthly Paradise toward
which we hasten. The semi-tropical
climate aud the luxuriance of vegeta~
ton is to us revelation. The prod
igality of Nature astonishes US at
every step we take. Everything is
clothed with verdure, and every bush
and tree is bright with flowers or laden
with fruit. The rail road ls bordered
with scarlet and gold SO thick set it
seems strip of bright carpet. Every
rock and old wall is bright with cacd
and wreathing vines on fire with bloom.
Mountsins of rock frown above us and
the shoreless sea smiles in the sun be-
fore us as we whirl on through fairy
land. We arrive at Nice in the night
time, and go to bed in an atmosphere
filed with the scent of orange BIOS
SONS which it is too dark to see. But
in the morning we look upon a garden
of bewilde-ing beauty. Upon hedges
of roses in full bloom and geraniums
higher than fences, lilies of all col
ors and an orange and lemon
orchard loaded with rips fl uit. 1t is
our first sight of an orange orchard,
and here it is in perfection of tree and
fluit. Our kind landlady gathered
for us bouquet that would cause our
fiower-loving Wilmington ladies to
open their eyes in wonder. Such
roses, such lilies and orange blossoms
without stint
Thousands changed hands in minute
but other thousands were always ready,
some lost and gained with equal
apparent indifference some we're fever