The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-12-25
IN A FRENCH MARKET GARDEN
Or, Rather, what We should Call
horticultural School.
G. W. Stevens. in London Mail.

G. w. Stevens in London Mail.
OF course, in France you could not ex-
pect to get away without something very
French-and here it was in number OF IL
Illustrated apples. The way you illustrate
an apple is apparently to paste bit OF pa
per or something in the shape of the pic
ture on the part that is turned to the sun.
When the fruit is ripe you wash 1t of-and
there is your Illustration, green on RED
ground. Here was a basket of little ruddy
apples, each decorated with the Gallo COCK;
here big paler ones with-can you ask?-the
double eagle Of Russia. You smiled, but
the labor and care which can thus lavish
themselves on each individual apple of
crop are not things to laugh at, but to lml-
tate.
But why is the Frenchman now master OF
such things as these? 1t is grief to the
patriot as to the glutton, but he can hardly
dispute it, and it seemed worth While trying
to discover the Teason. l knew no market
gardener, and nobody who knew any mar
ket gardener, but took the train to sta
ton a few miles out of Paris and began to
look for one.
1 overlook short man, in rough black
cloth with long arms and legs, and harsh
expression of countenance, and asked MIN
IL he COuIO QlfeCI me 10 d SCAOOA u AOA
culture which l had heard existed In THESE
parts.
IF monsieur will come with me-" he re-
piled ciVilly but with no Partisan ostenta-
ton of pouteness. Il am going that way.
He went on with great heavy strides
across muddy accommodation roads, TIL we
came out on to a turnpike, so hard ana
straight and true that you could well uh-
derstand how the petroleum tricycle. comes
to domipate France; Not that anything OF
the kind polluted the countryside at mat
moment; you looked out over miles of roll
ing valley and hillsides notified with russell
and orange woods The fields between were
not pasture, but all market garden. Fields
of cabbages, fields of strawberries, nelds OF
peas-in blossom in mid-NoVember!-wallS
tor fruit, every thing was down In frult ana
Presently, passing a field of cabbages, 1
discovered a man at work, going rapidly
from plant to plant, apparently half pulnng
each one up then changing his mind and
going on to do the same to the next one.
asked my acquaintance what he was DOING
at Is not WELL" replied he, that the CAP
bage should stand upright. Otherwise, II
rain or snow comes the water stands on
them and rots the leaves. or else they burn
Sides so tAat the water shall drop off,"
Monsieur Is gardener" l asked
"But certainly. This Is my garden we are
passing now. Strawberries, you see,' mon
sieur; but you should see them IN the sum-
| mer." ooy a,.os no,n,,rg
10 some lean-to straw-plaited shelters
| among the straw berries. 4,
He seemed, as before, slightly surprised
| nj my innocence. "Why, 10 carry IN the
fruit Ia and vegetables IL they are gathered In
| the sun: otherwise they would be spoiled:
| 1t was all just as simple ana as h a y ~
| as the way In which he said It; you 90 not
| seem to notice these little sun-shelters IN
| English market gardens, nor yet TO see peo-
pie ncning cabpages so Inat tf me w troubIe
| say we-and buy French produce at CoVeht
| Garden. A.. .o,,oo,u ra.
| s,,Voad nv friand-hV now he had become So
| and, having probably never heard OK
| Fashoda, regarded me only with, an adoi-
| Englishman. lie also sent much fruit and
vegetables to England, he explained; but
now''--we had come TO turning Ia aus,
have the honor of bidL.ng you gooa-day,
But no, monsieur It Is no trouble II mas
been for me a pleasure. ..oa 80. =
The school of horticulture turne9 GO OUT ho,, a
| branch OF a huge pension, training 500 boys
| in the rudiments and various arts IHey
directed me, with their UNAFFECTED poHte-
| ness to the chief of the horticultural d.
vision. He proved to be an old priest max,
| ing up accounts in little bare-boarded
| room with a. desk and one chair lie was
| thin, lantern-jawed, specialized. ms cheeKs
| clothed with two days grizzled stubble, pos
| sessed of an apparently limitless ana ain9st
unearthly knowledge or tne ways o ia "a I've
| and flowers. Under his charge, ne SAID, ne
| had about eighty boys, mostly sons OF gar
| deners, who paid on liberal estimate, @|V
| a year for keep and instruction tosetheI.
| He showed me the apple and pear room |;
| everything is gathered by now, Tor tney ma
| the later varieties mature better indoors
than left on the trees me 1rult lay Oh siSe
| ing to kind and time of ripening, and little
hoy in blue smock and trousers was gong
carefully over 1t to see what was cS conn Il ~
| the father begged indulgence: he had 10
| make up his accounts quickly Tor the prln-
| cipals eye; meanwhile, would l walk round
| the garden, behaving always as If 1t were
One Of her Majesty''s ships is not more
snick ard span, more beautifully ordered at
every point than was this kitchen garden.
Al this season of falling leaves the walks
are like new scrubbed geek eaGh cons{ined
exactly to- it's place In the plan; the frult
trees Climbed up the walls, branch Tor
~ fruit culture. It was Just the very dead
est season for garden work, yet the saruen
was blue-spotted WIN olouses ana sro VI,or
ing with only the most general SUPERVISION
There was not much growing, naturally.
but there was enough to learn the secret 10 OF
French success from, which is care-lnteill-
gent and unwearying care. The Doys an
knew what they were doing and why tney
were doing it; one was tying Up, up win le,.L
fectly well that this was a species OF us
own and that il was naturally IN great oe-
mand when the ordinary plant VIII not
grow Another was replacing big pen
glasses over little groups OF seeullng spring
lettuce already sown and prlcked OUT undar
shelter for the early crop. Anotner-lt was
drawing on to evening-was covering up the
frames in which they grow perpetual sue
cesson of radishes, such rs you never ear
In England Others were Lruning-and here
was an example indeed. The French
Misunderstanding the tree spread out on an
espalier or a wall or radiatlLg from low
Stem and growing upright like many
branched candlestick, so that always every
twig can be surveyed at one glance-is TO
nrune so exactly that wssh a full grown
healthy tree every single bud left will bear
fruit. The gardener knows the bud that
will bear by sight, and he cuts away every
thing that means only leaf or unfertile
flower Always the idea Is not to produce
a large crop of small fruit, but smaller
one Of large. With vegetables the theory
Il the same. and the practice.
They know the theory and they insist on