280. The nursery and seedsmen of France supply those of England with a variety of articles; but the principal, or what may be considered the national articles, are roses and orange trees. Some peaches, vines, figs, and other fruit trees, are occasionally sent to England; but more for the sake of introducing the sorts than for the trees. The seeds sent from Paris to London are various; and include flower seeds of some kinds which ripen with difficulty in England; seeds of pot-herbs, cauliflower, broccoli, lettuce, &c, seeds of anise, for distillation and the purposes of the confectioner, and sometimes clover, lucern, broom, furze, and other agricultural seeds. It appears to us that considerable improvement could be made in the culinary vegetables of France, by simply obtaining the seeds of the greater number of the Brassica tribe from Britain; and, when the two countries shall know the horticulture of each other better, this and various other changes of seed, and exchanges of both seeds and practices, will doubtless take place. The British nurserymen have learnt the greffe herbace from the French; and the French nurserymen have the British mode of performing the common whip-grafting, and various other practices, to acquire from the British. There exist in the two countries the germs of intimate connection and extensive commerce, both in the nursery and seed business.
