Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1891-07-09
GARDENING ABOUT PARIS.
Interesting Account of this Industry near
that Great City.

The gardens about Paris furnish tie
early asparagus, lettuce and carrots, both
from without and from within the walls of
the metropolis of the wOrld--keautiful
Paris And round about her walls are the
beautiful gardens, nowhere else equaIed,
or even approached. Our admiration in
creases while we observe the extent and
blessedness Of this city gardening. Adj
miration cannot be justly withheld. Ten
thousand persons find lucrative employ
menu in these gardens. OF these the
gardeners and their families compose one
quarter The wives, sons and daughters
are employed. The wife generally markets
the vegetables. All sorts Of truck con,
veyances are employed In the work. Horses
and truck wagons, mules and carts,
donkeys, and carts of huge proportions.
Men, women and children buy of the
gardeners and sell at stands or from house
to house. In the early morning there are
thousands of street stands all over Paris
where garden truck Is sold upon an APP
pointed hour. When this hour arrives
every vestage Of litter must be removed,
so that che passer by would not be aware
that Il thriving business In marketing has
been carried on in the clean streets of
Paris. Should cupidity or temerity at
tempt to proong the market hour, the
police would drive the offenders away, or
If tardy or obstreperous arrest them. Wo-
men who have small lot left, and are too
anxious to sell out, frequently set into
trouble | 10 not think that French
marketwomen or fshwomen differ much
FROM those Of similar occupations else
where Women are not more prompt to
obey the law than men; and they are less
tolerant Of restraint.
Of the thousands who toll early and late
in the gardens around Paris, men, women,
boys and girls, the men are the smaller
number, the women next, and the boys
and girls together make up fully one-quar-
ter of the whole number. The rents of
land are high; and, as elsewhere, the
nearer the centers of traffic and fashionable
quarters, prOportionately dear. 1t is esti-
mated to be worth 800 to $3.50 per acre.
At these prices Americans could not be in
duced to invest In it, even for gardening,
but it pays. These high prices include
the garden plant-a well, pumping ma
ehinery and tanks. HothouSes are not to
any great extent included in the garden
rates We need not cross the rolling
Atlantic in disgust and dismay to see the
most beautiful, extensive, and perfect hot
and In private grandeur we have as elegant
lighthouses as the world can show. Boston
can boast of ker magnificent paror vege-
table gardens without blush and, nearer
home, New York can wear a complacent
smile of satisfaction as the crystal orchid
conservatories are shown. The lighthouses
of Jardin DIES Plantes are not more beau
tiful. Ordinarily, the size of the gardens
surroundings Paris in an acre and a half
each. The largest DO not exceed two and
a half acres. The plant to carry on the
business of the smaller gardens costs from
$4,000 to $4,000. There must be $50 glasses
for striking cuttings, 500 glazed frames
5000 large bell-glasses, 700 to 800 straw
mats, 500 blocks for the frames and
glasses, besides the shades, hoes, rakes,
harrows, baskets for marketing, horse and
cart, we'll apparatus, and thousand and
one other necessarles to run the garden
profitable. The straw mats are made to
roll up, as they are taken off every morning
and rolled over the frames at night. This
constant handling occasions an enormous
wear and tear. But for the ample supply
OF long and strong straw, their expense
would be far greater. Dat straw in france
ranges from three to four feet long; wheat
straw from four to FIVE feet, and rye straw
often reaches IL feet. | have nowhere
seen such long and heavy straw, nor have
litseen used with such profusion to bed cat
tie and horses. The straw mat manufac-
ture gives employment to children, women
and to old and decrepit men. The by-pro-
duct of straw is the result of the thorough
beet culture. have given the most trust
worthy estimates | could obtain. This
was difficulty, for though every gardener
could tell exactly the number and cost of
the articles used by himself. he could not
give much information outside of his own
business. The French gardeners arc not
statisticians. One weeks training in our
grand agricultural department by J. r.
Dodge would send the whole generation
of them to the asylum. Statisticians have
to be born with the gift, and then go
through laborious course of training.
The probable value of the garden plant in
and around Paris exceeds $780, 600, 600.
The expense of repair and maintenance
averages from $500 to $500, or even more,
on an ordinary garden plat Our truck
farmers on Long Island perform creditable
work and secure fair returns for their
labor, but our gardeners around New York
get far more per acre. But the French