Structure of halsamma horteusis. 405 



horticultural shows seemed to shrink into insignificance be- 

 fore it. 



At the flower market at Brussels some pretty standard 

 Cytisus nigricans in pots, Punica nana, and oranges were 

 exposed for sale. Of flowers, I saw nothing worth my no- 

 tice. 



I visited several nurseries, and found most of them in the 

 Rue de Capucin, but of very small extent, perhaps from a 

 quarter to half an acre. The plants they cultivated were prin- 

 cipally the dwarf pomegranates (Punica nana), camellias, 

 oranges, neriums (of which they say they have '20 varieties), 

 Jasminum odoratissimum, bays, and laurustinus, all in pots; 

 the last with pruned heads. The nurserymen at Brussels 

 seemed much behind those of Ghent, both as to know- 

 ledge of plants, and in the value of their stock. I did not 

 hear of any novelties ; and their plants, I suppose, were gene- 

 rally of that description required at the Catholic fetes, &c. 

 All the vegetables I saw exposed in the difl'erent markets 

 were most decidedly inferior to what are sold in the English 

 markets : they did not seem to have had that care and capital 

 devoted to them, which almost every one who cultivates them 

 in England bestows.* I must now conclude these hasty and 

 imperfect notes, and I really have written much more than I 

 intended, at the risk, it" you insert and they read, of sending 

 some of my brothers of the pruning-knife to sleep. Some other 

 winter evening, I may perhaps give them another compos- 

 ing draught on the subject, in a neighbouring country. 



I am, Sir, yours, &c. 

 February/, 1832. T. Rivers, Jun. 



Art. III. Investigation of the Structure of the Balsam {Balsamlna 

 hortensis Desportes). By the Author of the " Domestic Gar- 

 dener's Manual." 



Sir, 

 In my former paper (p. 142.) I suggested that, if we hoped 

 to ascertain beyond a doubt the precise channels of the vege- 

 table currents, we must operate upon living subjects ; and I 

 proposed to inspect, microscopically, the stems of young 

 balsams, whose roots had been either immersed in, or regu- 

 larly watered with, coloured infusions. That I might leave 

 nothing undone which could tend to assist in an enquiry 



* It will give an idea of the severity of the winters, when I say, that in 

 Vertenven's nursery were some very large old mulberries, with all their 

 principal branches killed by the previous winter. 



