Lately, indeed, the Abbe
Le Turquier Deslongchamps, a very well-informed botanist, as well as a
most excellent man, has published a _Flore des Environs de Rouen_, in
two volumes; and there are many instances in which such works have been
known to diffuse a taste, which public gardens and the lectures of
professors had in vain endeavored to excite.
The variety of soil in the vicinity of the city renders it eminently
favorable to the study of botany. It is peculiarly rich in the
_Orchideoe_ of the most beautiful and interesting families of the
vegetable kingdom. The curious _Satyrium hircinun_ is found in the
utmost profusion upon the chalky hills immediately adjoining the city;
and, at but a few miles distance, in a continuation of the same ridge,
the bare chalk, under the romantic hill of St. Adrien, is purpled with
the flowers of the _Viola Rothomagensis_, a plant scarcely known to
exist in any other place.
The suburbs of Rouen abound with nursery-grounds and gardens: the former
contribute greatly to the preservation of the genuine stock of
apple-trees, which furnish the cider, for which Normandy has for many
centuries been celebrated; the latter supply the inhabitants with the
flowers which are seen at almost every window.
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