We asked how long the gardens had been thrown open to the public and people allowed to wander everywhere, and were told that “it had been so for _years_,” and this evidently implied a great many years.
The result of this visit was to make us take a graver view of the two first visits, and we resolved to look into the matter as carefully as we could, and to be entirely silent about the change of scenery until we had explained it somewhat to ourselves. After some years, and in spite of various false leads, we have been able to put together some very interesting facts. The details of the search are recorded in a book which, to us, goes by the name of the Green Book. It contains the original papers written in 1901, the history of the gradual accumulation of information, correspondence with one another and also with others on the subject, the accounts written by one or two friends who have helped us at different times, also pictures, maps, and lists of books consulted, and the account of curious incidents which took place during the search.
CHAPTER II SUMMARY OF RESULTS OF RESEARCH
The first incident in our expedition to Trianon in 1901 was that, after passing the _logement des corps de gardes_, a small hand plough was seen by Miss Lamont lying on the ground not far from some wide open gates in an old wall opposite to us, through which we could see the stems of a grove of trees, and a drive leading through it.
In 1905 Miss Lamont was told by a gardener that no plough was kept at Trianon; there was no need of one, as the government only required the lawns, walks, water, trees, and flowers, to be kept up.
In 1908 another gardener told us both that ploughs have entirely altered in character since the Revolution, and it was not likely that the old type would be seen anywhere in France now.
It would seem that no plough was used ordinarily at Trianon even in old days, for amongst a list of tools bought for the gardeners from 1780–1789, there is no mention of a plough.[7]
We learned, in 1905, from Desjardins’ book, that throughout the reign of Louis XVI. an old plough used in his predecessor’s reign had been preserved at the Petit Trianon and sold with the king’s other properties during the Revolution.[8]
