248 



THE GARDENER'S MONTHLY 



[August, 



worth of my flowers that were as much my 

 property, and had probably cost as much to pro- 

 duce, as the same vahie of flour or beef, and yet, 

 the thief was set free and virtually told by the 

 court to go and help himself again, of which 

 privilege, as has been stated, he was not slow to 

 avail himself. This immunity from punishment 

 of the flower or tree thief is not generally known, 

 and this ventilation of it in your columns will 

 not certainly make our property any safer, 

 unless it be the means of stirring up our legisla- 

 tors to the great necessity for a remedy. 



EDITORIAL NOTES. 



M. Louis Van Houttp:.— This distinguished 

 horticulturist died on the 0th of May last. Next 

 to the late Pi-of. Liudloy, we regard Mr. Van 

 Houtte as having exercised more influence on 

 the elevation of horticulture than any man of 

 the past age; and anxious to show our' apprecia- 

 tion of his services, we sent to Europe for a por- 

 trait before making any note of his decease. 

 Having now secured an engraving especially for 

 our readers, we give it with the following account 

 of his life and services, and for which we are in- 

 debted to the London Journal of HorticuUure. 

 We have selected this account to go with our 

 engraving, as it seems to us one of the fullest 

 accounts that we have seen : 



"A GIANT in horticulture is gone — Van Houtte 

 is dead. On the 30th ult. we held converse with 

 him at the Brussels Show, and on the 3rd inst. 

 we shared the hospitalities of his table in his 

 home at Ghent, regretting his sinking frame, but 

 admiring his energetic horticultural spirit, and 

 enjoying his sparkling wit «.ver the social meal. 

 We know somewhat of the habits of this re- 

 markable man, having sojourned with him in 

 response to the following invitation :—' Come 

 and see me. You dine with us, you sleep with 

 us ; you go into my nursery and into my house 

 when you like; you have all vou want; you 

 stay as long as you like; ' and then with definite 

 earnestness— ' you stay a month.' That is an 

 example of the heartiness of the welcome which 

 he gave to strangers— a specimen of the hospi- 

 tality for which he was proverbial. Of that visit 

 which occurred three years ago the following 

 was written :— M. Van Houtte is a gentleman of 

 robust physique and vigorous intellect, and sub- 

 jected to his penetrating vision a nervous man 

 might feel himself the subject of stock-taking 

 and being read all through.' He has not much 

 time for polished ceremony or to press courtesy 

 to an unpleasant extreme. Like many another 

 eminent man he is a great listener, and seems 

 content for the friends around him to do the 

 conventional talk, himself sitting and speaking 

 only to the point. His characteristic is soon 

 seen to be matter-of-fact exactitude, which is 

 one of the greatest acquisitions any man can in- 



herit or acquire, and which in the end will 

 serve him the best. Van Houtte's is a house 

 of work. Each one has his or her duties 

 in conducting this great business. Even the 

 daughters of the household — of charming man- 

 ners and genial — have their share in foreign. cor- 

 respondence, their maternal parent being chief 

 cashier. Van Houtte spends his whole time in 

 his business bureau. He has not been all round 

 his nursery for three years, yet is cognizant of 

 everything in every part of it. From five to 

 eight every morning is occupied in arrangements 

 with diff"erent foremen, and if it is never seen, 

 still the governing head is felt in every corner of 

 the establishment. Surrounded by a large staff 

 of clerks every detail of management is arranged 

 in the bureau, the chiefhimself commencing work 

 between one and two o'clock every morning, and 

 working inbessantly until 8 p. M, with less than one 

 hour's intermission, and this not in any particu- 

 lar season, but constantly from one year's end to 

 another. What a lesson it teaches, that there is 

 no royal road to success, and is one more exam- 

 ple that those who have won have worked — 

 worked with rare zeal and perseverance irresisti- 

 ble in pressing to the goal of success. That is a 

 brief sketch of his character and position then, 

 but noiv he is dead. 



This excellent man and highly skilled horti- 

 culturist died at his residence in Gendbnigge-lex- 

 Gand on the 9th of May. He was nearly sixty- 

 six, being born at Ypres in the June of 1810. 

 The mere enumeration of the offices and honors 

 conferred upon him are a sufficient testimony to 

 his great merits. He was Director of the Royal 

 Botanic Gardens, Brussels ; Director and Founder 

 of the Horticultural School at Gendl)rugge ; Ad- 

 ministrative Member of the Royal Agricultural 

 and Botanical Society of Ghent; Member of the 

 Royal Botanic Society of Belgium, and of a great 

 number other horticultural and scientific socie- 

 ties, &(•.; Mayor of Gendbrugge ; Knight of the 

 Royal Order of I^eopold of Belgium ; of the Im- 

 perial Order of Saint Anne of Russia; of the 

 Royal Order of Portugal ; of the Imperial Order 

 of the Rose of Brazil ; Commander of the Span- 

 ish Order of Charles TIL, &c. At the recom- 

 mendation M. Alexandre Verschaffelt, M. Van 

 Houtte settled at Ghent in 1839, and commenced 

 the publication of the " Flore des Serres " in 

 1845, and continued without any interval its ed- 

 itor as well as proprietor until the time of his 

 death. 



He was the son of a military engineer who 

 was engaged on the fortifications of Antwerp, 

 and dying when his son was young the training 

 of the latter was confided to his mother, but, as 

 is very usual, had an inclination for studies very 

 different from those of his father. He was de- 

 voted to floriculture, and being a good botanist 

 was engaged as a botanical traveller to search 

 for new plants worthy of cultivation in South 

 America, the coast of Central Africa, and else- 

 where. He was suVisequently Curator of the 

 I Royal Botanic Gardens of Brussels, and after- 

 wards joined an Englishmen with a view of 

 establishing a business in Britain. To this en- 



