518 THE MAGAZINE OF HORTICULTURE. 



blooming here shows that it is its true character and not ac- 

 cidental. It will be a most valuable acquisition. 



Mr. Reid's collection of specimen pears is large and well 

 grown, and contains several hundred trees on the quince and 

 pear. The fruit was now all gathered, and the leaves had 

 begun to fall. Those on the quince are planted rather nearer 

 together than our own, but they are kept well cut in. Those 

 on the pear have more space, and many of them are very 

 large trees : we noticed a Beurre Giffart ten or twelve feet 

 high, much more vigorous than we had ever seen it before. 



The whole nursery stock was in the best condition, stout, 

 stocky, and healthy, embracing a fine variety of ornamental 

 trees and shrubs, among which we noticed magnolias, hollies, 

 sassafras, deciduous cypress, viburnums, and other somewhat 

 rare kinds. The stock of pears is very large and excellent. 



Residence of L. E. Berckmans, Plainfield, N. Y. — 

 In the pleasant and retired town of Plainfield, about a dozen 

 miles from Elizabethtown, is situated the residence of Mr. 

 Berckmans. The whole demesne comprises some 300 acres 

 in farm, pasture, and woodland, a great part of it a perfect 

 level, diversified with wood, with a high range of hills in the 

 distance, whose massive vegetation had already begun to as- 

 sume the glowing tints which give such splendor to our 

 autumnal scenery. 



Here in this quiet retreat, upon the outskirts of the village, 

 buried amid the dense foliage of overhanging trees, stands 

 the mansion of Mr. Berckmans, a place just suited to the 

 retired habits and elegant leisure of the proprietor, who, a 

 few years since, removed hither from Belgium, leaving his 

 beautiful villa at Heyst-op-ten-burg, with all the attractions 

 which taste, aided by wealth, had lavished upon it, to take 

 up his abode amid the wild and uncultivated scenery of our 

 own country, which he henceforward intended should be his 

 home. Devoted, in Belgium, to the study of pomology as a 

 recreation, and numbering among his personal friends Bivort 

 and other eminent cultivators, as well as the late Van Mons, 

 Esperin, and Bouvier, all distinguished for their efforts in 

 raising new fruits, he has long been familiar with all the Bel- 



