The kitchen-garden at is large; but not more so than is required for the family, which resides here all the year, and averages at least a hundred persons. As an item of consumption, the gardener, Mr. Anderson, informed us, that he had sent in last year ten thousand heads of celery. On one of the walls we observed two plum trees, which had been killed down to the graft by a coup de soleil, one afternoon about 2 o'clock, in July, 1825. The trees were in their usual state when Anderson passed them, about half-past 1 o'clock; and when he returned, in half an hour, he found all their foliage black. In the October following, when we saw them, they were shooting from the graft. Accidents of this kind are not uncommon in the south of France, and are said to be guarded against by wrapping straw round the trunk and main branches. It is not likely, however, that this or any other precaution can be effectual, unless it is accompanied with an abundant supply of moisture to the roots. Trees spread out on walls are, undoubtedly, more liable to be so killed than such as are standards. A standard tree, with a bushy head, abundantly clothed with young shoots and leaves, would be least liable to it, because the trunk, branches, and all the interior parts of the tree, and the entire half of the exterior surface, would be safe from the direct influence of the sun's rays.
