No. 9. 



Van Mons. — Tlie Isabella Grape. 



275 



one of the most approved nurserymen and 

 extensive fruit growers, in this section of 

 country ; and also by other practical farmers 

 with unfailing success. The efficacy of the 

 ill weed, when applied in this manner, ap- 

 pears to result from its universal nauseous- 

 ness.* The place which the insect selects 

 for depositing its eggs, is the junction of the 

 boll of the tree with the surface of the 

 ground, and finding there a substance which 

 is loathsome to it, it chooses rather to wing 

 its way to the orchard of a less provident 

 neighbour, than consign its eggs, and conse- 

 quently to trust the reproduction of its spe- 

 cies to a tree so fortified against its attacks. 

 1 am aware that some may be prejudiced 

 against this remedy on accout of its simpli- 

 city ; but it may be well to remember, that 

 simple inventions, and simple remedies, are 

 often the most valuable, and are besides, 

 not always those that are the soonest dis- 

 covered. Be not discouraged then, but give 

 it a fair trial, and if you are not richly re- 

 warded with an abundant supply of one of 

 the most delicious gifts of Pomona, then I 

 am a much deceived 



Buckeye Farmer. 



Smithfield, Ohio, 2nd mo. 27th, 1844. 



Van Mons. 



Dr. Van Mons was an entirely self-edu- 

 cated man; the vast acquisitions he had 

 made in most branches of knowledge, were 

 tlie result of patient perseverance under se- 

 rious disadvantages. His extensive know- 

 ledge of chemistry and languages, was the 

 most of it gained while acting as a humble 

 apothecary ; and his taste for fruits and farm- 

 ing was the result of his botanical researches, 

 and his observations of the state of agricul- 

 ture around him. In 1817, he was appointed 

 to the chair of chemistry and agriculture in 

 the University of Louvain. Several' years 

 before, he had commenced his great nurse- 

 ries in the vicinity of Brussels, and at this 

 time had in them some 80,000 trees, a large 

 portion of them seedling pears. His appoint- 

 ment did not interfere with his care of his 

 nursery, nor interrupt his experiments in the 

 production of new varieties of fruits; but in 

 1819, the city of Brussels conceived the idea 

 that the ground occupied by Van Mons' nur- 

 series was wanted for new streets and 

 squares, and he was notified tliat he must 

 remove them in two months, or the whole 

 would be cut up and burned. With the 

 most persevering activity, he could save 

 only about one-twentieth part of the whole. 

 The remainder was either sold, given away, 



* Our correspondent will allow this, we apprehend, 

 to be a maUer of opinion. — Ed. 



or destroyed. Unfortunately, his new nur- 

 sery was established on lands belonging to 

 the town, and the authorities were the first 

 to abandon them to pillage. They were 

 mostly destroyed by the army during the 

 siege of Anvers, in 1831 ; and when, spite 

 of these misfortunes, he had hired two 

 pieces of ground and re-planted them, the 

 engineers of Louvain decided that the 

 grounds of Van Mons were of all others 

 the most suitable spot for a gas manufactory, 

 and they were so used in 1834. 



Among the learned. Van Mons is known 

 by his valuable papers and publications on 

 scientific subjects, principally on agriculture 

 and horticulture, and kindred topics, while 

 to the world generally, his name is identified 

 with some of the finest fruits, particularly 

 pears, yet known, produced by him in the 

 course of his horticultural experiments. 

 The finest collection of pears in the United 

 States, that of Mr. Manning of Salem, was 

 mostly derived from trees sent out by Van 

 Mons, or ordered from him. The theory of 

 the propagation of fruits, known as the theo- 

 ry of Van Mons, ingenious and satisfactory 

 as it is in most respects, we cannot here 

 touch upon. We can only add, that the 

 history of Van Mons offers another proof of 

 what the man can accomplish, who forms 

 the determination, and perseveres in his 

 efforts to be useful. — Cultivalor. 



The Isabella Grape. 



Extract from J. S. Skinner's Address to the Colum- 

 bian Horticultural Society. 



I SHALL content myself with giving you 

 the history of a single Isabella vine, now 

 in my mind's eye, and with which I have a 

 personal acquaintance and some very agree- 

 able recollections. It was planted and reared 

 by Dr. Gideon B. Smith, of Baltimore, a 

 naturalist well and favourably known to the 

 country, and to me as an earnest seeker after 

 all useful knowledge for its own sake, and 

 for the good it may enable him to do so- 

 ciety; and one, moreover, whose statement 

 0? facts may be relied on as we rely on the 

 evidence of things seen. This remarkable 

 vine, not now for the first time referred to, 

 and likely to become as noted as the famous 

 one at Hampton Court, which produced on 

 one branch upwards of 2,000 bunches, was 

 planted in 1837, then a layer of a year's 

 growth. The history and statistics of it 

 will show how easy it is for any man to 

 have for himself and family in a very short 

 time a great abundance, in its season, of one 

 of the most delicious, if not the most healthy 

 in all the catalogue of fruits. The soil in 

 which it was planted was a stiff mould, to 



