398 Hoi-ticidiural Tour in the Ncthaimuh. 



I found from liiin tliat, instead of using the muscle stock for 

 peaches, nectarines, and apricots, they always bud on " la 

 prune mirabelle." The soil generally, in this part of Flanders, 

 appeared unfit for peaches, &c., owing to its extreme light- 

 ness ; but as they do better on this stock than on any other, 

 and I thought this a hint which some of our light gravelly 

 land districts might profit by, I liave imported some of the 

 stocks this season for trial. Upon calling at M. Lanckman's, 

 he was urgent for me to purchase three new " grandes" 

 camellias, viz. " Imperatrice," " Duchesse de Parma," and 

 "Giema belgica," 130 francs the three; his fertile descrijnion, 

 in French phrases, would have given n\e a high idea, had not 

 a friend at my elbow, used to their high-sounding terms, pre- 

 viously told me to listen, but not always to believe : therefore, 

 with all due courtesy, I told him that one day 1 should come 

 and see them in bloom, and then buy if they pleased me. 



After visiting several other nurseries, we adjourned to the 

 prince of the Ghent " pepinieristes," M. 13uyck Vander 

 Marsh. What was to me most amusing in these calls was, 

 that all 1 called upon doflfed their sabots and working-dress, 

 made themselves smart, and then joined me in my visits to the 

 other nurseries without the least jealousy ; though, of course, 

 all were e(|ually anxious to sell their own goods. M. Buyck 

 Vander Marsh was, as the others liad told me, a first-rate 

 amateur, and knew all the novelties among plants well: he 

 told me he was in communication with Messrs. Loddiges and 

 Monsieur " Neet." Who this well-known English nursery- 

 man was, for a long time I could not tell; at last Mr. Knight's 

 name came to my relief, and after modifying the pronunciation 

 gradually, so as to make " Neet," Knight, I made him com- 

 prehend that the name in English was what I pronounced. 

 After looking over his rarities, of which he had not a few for 

 so small a garden (about the third of an acre); I noticed 

 MagnobV; " speciosa," " M. Alexandrinr/," and a collection of 

 libaii indica, among which he named Itbsa. strdmbio vera as 

 very fine, also the Lafayette rose. 



Our party, which had increased to several, all florists and 

 cntliusiasts, adjourned to a tavern ; and, when the wine had 

 warmed their fancies, never did I see such a scene. Most of 

 them sj)oke French, some a little English, and at times all 

 Flemish ; the praise of favourite plants, and urgent entpiiries 

 after novelties, were the themes. I should have liked Mr. 

 Loudon to have been a looker on, and to have heard some of 

 the many pleasant extravagances uttered respecting plants. 1 

 was astonished at the number of nurseries in this town; the po- 

 pulation is, I think, not more than 90,000, yet I visited twenty 



