Gleanings from French Gardens

The innovative gardener and writer William Robinson (1838-1935), several of whose other works are reissued in this series, was sent by The Times as its horticultural correspondent to the Paris International Exposition of 1867. As a result of his visit, he produced two books, The Parks, Promenades and Gardens of Paris (1869) and this highly illustrated work (first published in 1868 and reissued here in its 1869 second edition) on gardening trends in France, describing 'such features of French horticulture as are most worthy of adoption in British gardens'. In comparing French horticulture with British, Robinson believes that the gardens of the great houses of Britain are not matched in France, but that in terms of market gardening and its produce, France is definitely superior. He argues in this interesting work that French methods of training fruit such as apples, pears and peaches should be widely adopted.