MARCH. 145 



Album de Pomologie, par A. Bivort and others : 4 vols. 4tOj 

 1847-1851. La Pomonomie Beige, of the late Van Mons, 

 appeared at Louvain in 1835 and 1836, in 2 vols. 8vo. 



In 1845, the nurseries of Louvain were given over by the 

 heirs of Van Mons to M. A. Bivort, and the collections trans- 

 ferred to the gardens of the village of Geest St. Remy, near 

 Jodoigne. In consequence of the vigorous trees having been 

 transplanted into a less favorable soil than that of Louvain, 

 many of them again fruited in 1847 and 1848. The new 

 and good varieties were named and sent out, at least a great 

 number of them ; nevertheless they are still but little known, 

 and not widely distributed. A better knowledge of them 

 would therefore be advantageous to amateurs. M. Bivort, 

 having retired from business in 1852, formed a society, a 

 committee of which is charged to ascertain the good varieties 

 which may be found among those that have not yet fruited, 

 and of which, consequently, the merits have not been proved. 

 Major Esperen, of Mechlin, commenced researches of the 

 same kind somewhat later than Van Mons, and he also ob- 

 tained results deserving notice. 



M. Bouvier, of Jodoigne, one of Van Mons's pupils in 

 pharmacy, also turned his attention to the raising of new va- 

 rieties of pears from seed. Like Van Mons and Esperen, 

 Bouvier has left a number of very vigorous and hardy varie- 

 ties of pears, and of good quality ; but the two last have not 

 left any account of their mode of proceeding. We may re- 

 mark, that these three gentlemen had no other object than 

 that of obtaining a good result ; and that they gratuitously 

 distributed to amateurs and nurserymen grafts of their seed- 

 ling trees, after these had borne fruit approved by themselves 

 and their friends. Still it is certain that these essays, carried 

 on for half a century, especially those of Van Mons, must 

 have cost a considerable sum of money. In his nurseries at 

 Brussels, Van Mons did not possess less than 80,000 seedlings. 

 Persons capable of judging of the matter estimated, that, at 

 the time of his decease, which took place at Louvain in Sep- 

 tember, 1842, the nurseries must have cost a sum, including 

 interest, of about 300,000 francs (£12,000.) There are few 



VOL. XXI. NO. III. 19 



