Aside from the information derived from a description of the cities of France that have a direct horticultural importance by those of the readers of the Horticulturist who contemplate visiting that country next season, these lines will be interesting to any lover of horticulture.

Angers, which supplies a large share of the young stocks that fill the nurseries the world over, is a large and handsome city, which every traveler through France should visit. It lies about three hundred miles southwest of Paris. The climate is very mild, and the soil, of the first quality, is worked in the most intelligent manner.

Le Mail is a magnificent promenade, edged on each side with four rows of huge elms, with its squares planted with the rarest evergreens, the beauty of which we can not enjoy here for lack of suitable temperature. Near the Mail are located many of the floral establishments; where are to be seen, besides many things oF equal importance, some of the largest camellias to be found in Europe, measuring twenty-five feet in height, with a stem of six to eight inches diameter. The botanical garden is deserving a visit Aside from its rich collections, there are very large trees of the improved varieties of magnolia grandiflora (evergreen); these are planted along the walks as shade trees, and have attained the largest proportions. Speaking of the camellias above-mentioned, I should say that those large specimen are planted out of doors in the open ground, and bear the inclemency of winter. Nothing can give an idea of their beauty when the month of April comes, the time of their flowering. They have no protection whatever, but a few amateurs, however, make a temporary roof over their plants, or spread a cloth in order to prevent the snow from coming in contact with the leaves and flower-buds. This covering is removed as soon as there is no fear of snowy weather.

A trip through the country will be full of interest to those wishing to get a perfect knowledge of the horticultural resources of France, as the neighborhood of Angers, as well as the whole basin of the Loire, produces an enormous quantity of fruits and vegetables, which are exported to Paris, London, and the large cities of the north of Europe. But above all, will an examination of the fine nurseries be of the deepest usefulness to American visitors. The thorough and superior manner in which all the work is done; the pro rata amount of work obtained from a day's labor; the perfection and evenness of the trees, will astonish all visitors. Going through the fruit nurseries, the visitor will remark that scarcely any buds or grafts have failed to grow, and that there is not to be found what is termed second-class trees. The blocks of evergreens will at once arrest attention. All these are grown in pots imbedded in the ground, and when kept to make large specimens for lawns, are planted in willow baskets and set out wider apart, allowing them full space to perfect their natural form. This practice is applied to all evergreens, conifers, and others; plants grown that way are sent out at any time of the year with all their roots, and never fail to grow, scarcely feeling the removal.

The most tedious work is the raising of stocks from seeds. Notwithstanding the good quality of the soil and the thorough preparation of it, the seedlings have to be watered daily for two or three months, and a large gang of men never stop pouring the water on them for that length of time, from daylight till evening; the seedlings are sown broadcast in beds four feet wide, separated by foot-wide paths. They are mulched over with the rubbish and heavy dust made at the rope-factories in breaking the hemp; those factories are numerous at Angers, and established on a large scale, and can supply the nurseries in that way. The transplanted seedlings receive the same care as the yearlings. A specialty in which Angevins excel is the growing of some evergreens from layers; those extensively grown in this way are principally camellias for stocks. Rhododendrons, magnolias, viburnum, and lauro cerasus, but no conifers, are grown by layers. Seeing a bed of camellia layers, one would think that he sees a bed of seedlings, as the work is so clearly and evenly performed.

A most gorgeous sight is that of the plantations of standard roses, some of which contain nearly 50,000 plants in one block, all exactly alike in height, as the stocks are topped off the same length after planting, measured with a pole that the workman holds in his left hand close to the stock while he cuts with a secateur that part of it which is above the pole; these are budded the same year in July, and the next spring when in bloom offer to the eye a beautiful picture, and exhale their delightful perfume.

Some of the nurseries are very extensive, but there is no exaggeration in saying that in a given space ten times as many trees or plants are grown as is done in American nurseries. This will be easily understood when it is known that all the work is done by hand, including the tillage and cultivation of the land, and consequently the plantations made closer, the rows of fruit-trees being only twenty-four to twenty-six inches apart. Peach and apricot trees, which are grown largely, are kept only one year in the nursery; no two-years'-old trees of these finding any sale, people having come to the conclusion that one-year trees of the above are attended with better results than older ones. Pear and cherries for dwarf are not kept over two years.

The garden of the Cornice is deserving a visit, but some of the private collections and fruit schools are more interesting than it, as to the completeness of their collections and the most elaborate systems of training.

In other than horticultural matters, Angers is of interest to the traveler. A fine museum of paintings and antiquities; the old castle built of black slates; some large wool factories, rope factories, the splendid private places in the country around, and the very fine buildings in the city itself. The new city (that part on the north side of the river) is one of the best built in France. The slate mines around the city supply the roofing of a good tenth of the buildings in the whole of France.

Let no tourist go to France without visiting Angers.

Angers And Its Nurseries #1

Thanks for this article, and I repeat, let no tourist, and especially no horticultural tourist, go to France without visiting Angers.