352 Reviews. 



REVIEWS. 



Art. I. The Garclener''s Magazine and Register of Rural and 

 Domestic Improvements. In Monthly Numbers. 8vo., Is. 6d. 

 No. XLII, for May. 



The first paper in the present number is entitled, " Obser- 

 vations on the Gardening- of Belg-ium, with incidental Re- 

 marks on its rural and domestic Economy, &c. &.C." By John 

 Madison, Esq. 



" Perhaps there are few people, except the English, that have a 

 greater taste for horticulture than the Belgians ; but then it is practised 

 on quite difierent principles in the two countries ; for where, in Eng- 

 land, a new plant would be worth five guineas, in Belgium, the gardener 

 would have dilHculty in regaining the money he had spent in raising it, 

 unless he were enabled to multiply it exceedingly ; and even then, he 

 would find so many competitors, that he would be obliged to take out the 

 greater part of his gain in other plants which would be given him in 

 exchange. Almost every one has something to do with plants ; and 

 every one, therefore, is unwilling to pay money for new plants, knowing 

 that in his own collection, he has also plants which others want, and 

 that thus he can always exchange. In the town of Ghent itself, there 

 are 203 plant-houses, and in its immediate vicinity, 67." 



The state of horticulture in Belgium seems very similar 

 to that in this country, with the exception, that the taste 

 for the pursuit, with us, is not near so general. Considering 

 the length of time, liowever, which horticulture may be 

 said to have existed as an art in this country, the exception 

 will be somewhat lessened. The value of a new plant, 

 which in England is worth a guinea, will here bring com- 

 paratively nothing, unless it be some favorite one, and it 

 becomes the fashion to cultivate it ; and the professed 

 gardener or nurseryman, who spares no expense, to introduce 

 those that are really new and deserving of general cultiva- 

 tion, is often compelled to discard them entirely from his 

 collection, or offer them at a price which, if dozens were 

 sold, would not half remunerate him for the time spent in 

 propagating them. This arises, we believe, in part, from 

 a system of exchanges similar to that mentioned in the 

 aboVe extract. That horticulture will ever arrive to that 

 state of perfection, in this country, to which every lover of 

 the art must sincerely wish, is rather doubtful. There is 

 nothing to stimulate individuals to exertion ; nothing to 

 induce them to invest a capital sufficient to pursue the trade 

 of the nurseryman with advantage ; nothing to infuse that 

 zeal among them, without which it is almost impossible to 

 disseminate that taste, which is the first step to horticultural 



