KNIGHT'S GARDEN

Created by the French botanist Auguste Chevalier in 1908, the garden was initially experimental. Mr. Chevalier tested different species of trees, some European and others more exotic, and in particular Indochinese pines, coffee trees, tea trees,... But the 1914-1918 war forced him to leave. He would not return until much later, in the 1930s. After the war, however, the head of the agricultural department at the time noted that the bush had more or less taken over and that only the Indochinese pines and a few other species had been able to develop despite everything! It is these pines which, along with some coffee trees, Chinese bamboo, cinnamon trees and other eucalyptus, constitute a real forest today! A nursery was created in the garden by the agents of Water and Forests. After a few years when it worked rather well, this nursery seems to be losing speed. In any case, the few pine plants found there will have a hard time compensating for the trees cut down in the surrounding forests. Unfortunately, the wood business is very lucrative and nothing seems to be able to stop the decline of the wooded areas. The total ban on cutting pine trees regularly decreed by the local authorities is never fully respected. The access to the garden is free and is made from the tarred road. To this day, the plaque that indicated the entrance to the garden lies on the ground, waiting for a kind soul to put it back up.