Southern Horticultural Trip. 137 



ripens the middle of July. Duchesse d'Angouleme ripens the middle of 

 August, and is one of the most valuable. Seckel is very fine, and three 

 times the size of the Northern ; while Louise Bonne de Jersey is entirely 

 worthless. Triomphe de Jodoigne is of the finest quality. Gros Colmar 

 Van Mons keeps over until May. The long seasons and high temperatures 

 cause many changes in the routine of cultivation from that adopted in 

 Northern nurseries ; among which we may mention that Mr. Berckmans 

 buds his pear and other stocks, heads them down, and obtains a consider- 

 able growth in a single season. Here, also, we saw seventy or eighty thou- 

 sand rose cuttings and layers, put out last fall, which will attain the height 

 of a foot to two feet this year, and be fit for sale ; and so readily are 

 these produced, that of the new rose Marechal Nicl he has now eight 

 thousand plants for sale. 



Mr. Berckmans' nursery, and every thing appertaining to it, is managed 

 with great energ}' and good judgment ; and we were glad to learn that his 

 trade is large and profitable. 



At the cemeteiy at Augusta we saw fine hedges of the Golden and Chi- 

 nese arborvitas and other evergreens, with rhyncospermums, camellias, and 

 gardenias. The Norway spruce appears to thrive admirably here, though it 

 does not succeed wnth Mr. Berckmans. Mr. Berckmans told us of a Cloth- 

 of-Gold rose, which we had not time to visit, trained on the walls of the 

 Augusta factory, covering a space seventy feet high by a hundred and 

 twenty broad, and whose stem is a foot thick. 



From Augusta we swung round to Atlanta, the new capital of Georgia, 

 where we were greatly surprised at the enterprise displayed, and the rapidity 

 with which whole streets of new buildings had risen on the ruins of those 

 destroyed by the misfortunes of war. The capitol is a handsome and com- 

 modious building. Here we met our former associates and co-laborers, 

 Col. Richard Peters, and Dr. L. E. Berckmans, the pupil of Van Mons and 

 associate of Esperen, who had come a long distance to meet us. The 

 pear succeeds tolerably with Col. Peters, whose fine grounds we visited ; 

 among which we noticed good trees of the Bartlett, Duchesse d'Angouleme, 

 Buerre d'Anjou, and Brandywine ; the principal obstacle being the blight. 

 At Rome, on the highlands, where Dr. Berckmans is now located, and with 

 his usual zeal testing every variety under his own inspection, we may 



