e nature from the
Prince de Conde, the Duc de Montansier, Colbert, Fouquet and others.

So great a marvel was this vegetable garden at Versailles that it was
the object of a pilgrimage of the Doge of Venice in 1685, and of the
Siamese ambassadors in the following year. The garden has been preserved
as an adjunct to Versailles up to the present day. For two centuries its
product went to the "Service de Bouche" of the chief of state, that is,
the royal dinner table; but in 1875 the Minister of Agriculture
installed there the French National Horticultural College, which to-day,
with a widened scope, has admitted ornamental plants and trees to this
famous garden. Nevertheless the general outlines have been preserved,
though certain of the terraces have disappeared, as well as many of the
walls of the original enclosure, thus reducing the number of garden
plots; in fact but sixteen distinctly defined gardens remain, including
the Clos aux Asperges.

The general lines of the garden design of Le Notre and Boyceau at
Versailles are to be noted to-day, but if anything the maintenance of
the gardens is hardly the equal of what it was in the time of Louis XIV
and a seeming disaster has fallen upon Versailles as these lines are
being written.

The military authorities have set aside, as a site for an aerostation
camp, some twenty-five acres of the park near Rocquencourt. This is one
of the loveliest parts, shaded by magnificent trees which, presumably,
will have to be sacrificed, since, if left standing, they would
certainly interfere with maneuvering with military aeroplanes,
dirigibles and balloons.

At a time when deforestation is recognized to be one of the greatest
dangers that menace a country's prosperity, one of its consequences
being such inundations as those which recently devastated Paris and the
Seine valley, it is regrettable that the forest surrounding Versailles
should be depleted.

[Illustration: _The Potager du Roy, Versailles_]

Furthermore, the realization of the project means a loss of revenue to
the state which at present derives some sixty thousand francs a year
from the farming lease of this portion of the park.

Therefore, for material considerations, as well as because Versailles
and its surroundings should be preserved intact as a noble relic of one
of the grandest periods of French history, one of the most beautiful
creations of French genius, the project attributed to the military
authorities is