Another impressive civic project undertaken by the French, the Jardin d'Essai dates to the first years of their occupation. In the early 1830s, as soon as the French were in control of Algiers, territory was set apart for a model farm and a garden in which they could try out a variety of plants. The plan was to test what would grow up best here, given the soil and typical weather, in the hope of improving crop yields and greening the land.

The model farm gone, but the Jardin D'essai thrived and by the end of the nineteenth century was one of the world's grand natural hot-houses. It has continued to expand and is presently undergoing improvements. A place of exceptional beauty, when it reopens it will once again be somewhere to run away from the overwhelming whiteness of the town, among the avenues of palms, the stands of glamorous trees and the rows of plants.