259. The floriculture of France is decidedly inferior to that of Britain; and it is still more so, when compared with that of Holland or Germany. The cause, however, is not to be found in any deficiency of skill in the practical gardeners of France, but in a want of demand for first-rate floricultural productions. The great wealth of the landed proprietors of England has called forth extraordinary exertions in the forcing department of floriculture; and the commerce of Holland has occasioned similar exertions to be made in that country in the culture of bulbous roots. The German gardeners have been compelled to cultivate the art of producing flowers in the winter season, to satisfy the demand created by the fondness displayed by many of the German princes for gardening and botany; and this, considering the difficulties of climate to be contended with, requires perhaps greater skill than forcing flowers in England. The germs of the same skill exist among the gardeners of Paris, who supply the flower-market, and they will be gradually called forth as the citizens increase in wealth and taste.
