The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1893-11-24

There are not less than 1875, 900 trees
in line within the walls of Paris, with
out including those which are found in
private gardens, so vast and numerous
In certain aristocratic quarters, nor those
of the public gardens And note this
further fact that outside the public ways
there exists in this city, in the form of
parks, gardens and public squares, to-
tai service Of about 5000 acres.
Beside trees, there are plants and flow
ers throughout the town. When it is
time for Paris to take off her winter toi-
let and make her appearance in spring
attire, it takes nearly 100000 flower
plants, distributed by hundreds of gar
deners and their assistants The total
number of plants often employed for the
toilet of this town at one time is about
100000. The nurseries which produce
them are situated in various parts Of the
city. In the Bois de Boulogne, near the
race course of LOngchamp, are the nurs-
cry grounds of trees with cad locus
leaves. At Auteuil, on the road 10 the
village of BoulOgne, in sandy soil, ex-
cellent for their propagation, are placed
a collection of resinOus trees, plants with
persistent leaves and heath mold plants
On the banks of the river Marne, at a
village called Petit Buy, the plane trees
that are planted along the boulevards
are cultivated, and finally, out at Vim
cennes, near the barrier and just beyond
the Notifications, a large assignment Of
land is reserved for ornamental plants.
The central establishment is near La
Muette. ont at Passv. 1t is one of the
most considerable horticultural labora-
tories Ill the world, and has 30 conserva-
tories.
In some of these Paris gardens there
are so many diversities of plants that
dare not attempt to enumerate them.
Without them, and the hundreds of
thousands of others in Paris, many per-
sons would bend over their daily labor
and pass their lives without having had
any other spectacle before their eyes
than that of narrow streets or the SOM
bre courtyard of tenement house, work
shop and factory.
/ wish my readers could see Paris be-
tween the Louvre palace and the west
ern end of the Bois de Boulogne, dis
tance of about five miles, and full of
trees.
They begin with two pretty little gar
den spots in q narrow open space be-
tween those wings of the Louvre that
are occupied on one side by the ministry
of finances, on the other by the National
gallery. Then comes a short, bare space,
badly paved with great blocks of stone
and called the Place du Caroussel. Be
yond its small arch of triumph that Ma
poleon once topped with booty from the
Vatican begin the gardens of the Tuil-
cries.
Here there are orange trees in i'm
msnse wooded tubs painted green, and
there is almost no grass at all. At its
beginning is a part of the Jardin des
Tuileries, which was only opened to the
public in 1889, and it covers the ground
where once stood the palace. Thence,
seen through trees, through marble stat
utes and statuary of many kinds, an i'm
mense perspective slowly rises and glori-
ousiy terminates with the Arc de Tri-
omphe. The details are ravishing, the
ensemble is of unequaled grace and
grandeur; no other city on earth can
show its like. West of the Tuileries gar
dens is the grand open space known as
the Place de la ConcOrde, and after that
comes the Champs Elysees, an elysian
field where wide belts of varied shrubs
are encircled with choicest flowers,
where the grass spreads widely out here
and there, and where great clumps of
rhododendrons and lofty trees shroud
buildings that are occupied as cafe con-
certs, restaurants, dioramas, circus
and the Palais de l'Industrie.
The Champs Elysees was thus laid out
in 1860, but the work were so we'll done
that it looks as if they were always thus
established. This garden park of street
and public garden finishes at the Rond
point, a circular open space, where sew
eral streets cross, and where there are
fountains, beds of flowers and rich man
sions. From the Rond point to the Place
de rEtoile, or triumphal march, where
all is breadth, dignity and airiness, the
avenue of the Champs Elysees is built
up with private residences, though here
and there a grocery, carriage store
room or drugshop have crept in to mar
the aristocratic bearing of the loveliest
thoroughfare in Paris. On either side of
the roadway stretches row of trees,
and these. turning around the arch Of
triumph, continue their way down the
Avenue du Bois de Boulogne, which
leads to the park of that name.
1t is a thorOughfare that grandly
shows to what beauty avenue gardening
can be brought. 1t was made entirely
through private land, half the expenses
being borne by the state on condition
that an iron railing of uniform design
was to be constructed along the whole
length of the road; that strip of about
90 feet in breadth be left for the gardens
between this railing and the main road,
and, further. that no kind of trade or
manufacturing should be carried on in
any of the buildings adjoining. The to-
tai length of the Avenue du Bois de
lBoulogne is 1850 yards, and its width 5
l150. 1t consists of central roadva
j125 feet wide, of two asphalt sidewalks
each 40 feet wide, of rotten row" for
horseback riders, of two long pieces of
garden with grass, shrubs, trees and
flowers and of two bordering roads in
front of the private residences.
cannot begin TO tell you of all of the
beauties of trees and shrubs and plants
which Paris can boast of, much less can
lo.o~,l@o ~, FILL +IoSo Io,. -