The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1894-03-05
THE PARKS OF PARIS.
A Forest OF Trees And Flowers In Pro
fusion.

fare In Paris-Wonde rful Gardens.
There are not less than 1885, 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
PRS throughout the town. When it is
time for Paris to take off her winter tot
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 Bots de Boulogne, near the
race course of Longchamp, are the nurs-
cry grounds of trees with caducous
leaves. At Auteuil, ON the road to the
village of Boulogne, in a sandy soil, ex-
callent for their propagation, are placed
collection of resinous trees, plants with
persistent leaves and heath mold plants.
On the banks of the river Marine, 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, out at Passy. 1t is one Of the
most considerable horticultural labora-
tories in the world, and has 80 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 Bots de Boulogne, a dis
lance of about five miles, and full of
trees.
They begin with two pretty little gar
den spots in 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 short, bare space,
badly paved with great blocks OF stone
and called the Place du Caroussel. Be
vond 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
mense wooded tubs painted green, and
there is almost no grass at all. At its
beginning is part of the Jardln DIES
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-
o,rsiy terminates with the Arc de Fri
omphe. The details are ravishing, the
ensemble is of unequaled grace and
grandeur; no other city on earth can
show it's 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 STROUD
buildings that are occupied as cafe con-
certs, restaurants, dioramas, a circus
and the Palais de PIndustrie.
The Champs Elysees was thus laid out
in 1860, bur the work were so well 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 FEtoile, 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 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 a row of trees,
and these. turning around the arch of
triumph, continue their way down the
Avenue du Bots de Boulogne, which
leads to the park of that name.
1t is 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
so 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 Bots de
Boulogne is / $50 yards, and its width is
$50. It consists of a central roadway