aly, Le Notre took up again the work
on the gardens at Versailles, devoting himself to the region south of
the palace which hitherto had been ignored. This was Le Notre's most
prolific period.

The creations at Versailles can be divided into two distinct epochs,
that before 1670 and that coming after. After Le Notre's generous
design, the king and queen were seemingly never satisfied with the
endless plotting and planting which was carried on beneath the windows
of the palace, and in many instances changed the colour schemes and even
the outlines of Le Notre's original conceptions.

The Versailles of to-day is no longer the Versailles of Louis XIII, so
far as the actual disposition of details goes. Then there was very
little green grass and much sand and gravel, a scheme of decoration
which entered largely into the seventeenth century garden. This refers
principally to the general effect, for Le Notre made much use of the
enclosing battery of lindens, chestnuts and elms of a majestic and
patriarchal grandeur which have since been cut and replaced by smaller
species of trees, or not replaced at all.

No sooner were the ornamental gardens planned at Versailles than the
Potager du Roy, or fruit and vegetable garden, was created. This same
garden exists to-day with almost its former outlines. Here a soil
sufficiently humid, and yet sufficiently well drained, contributed not a
little towards the success of this most celebrated of all kitchen
gardens the world has known.

The work of installing a further system of artificial drainage was
immediately begun, and the Eaux des Suisses was created, to take the
place of a former stagnant pool near by. Undoubtedly it was a stupendous
work, like all the projects launched with regard to Versailles, but,
like the others, it was brought to a speedy and successful conclusion.
The details of the history of this royal vegetable garden are fully set
forth in a work published in 1690 by the son of the designer, the Abbe
Michel de la Quintinye, in two bulky volumes. "It was meet that a royal
vegetable garden should have been designed by a 'Gentleman Gardener,'"
said the faithful biographer in his foreword, and as such the man and
the work are to be considered here.

The work was accomplished by the combined efforts of a gracious talent
and the expenditure of much money, put at La Quintinye's disposition by
his royal master, who had but to put his hand deep into the coffers of
the royal