NOVEMBER. 519 



gian pears, and now has in his possession thousands of the 

 seedlings of Van Mons and Esperin, which passed into his 

 hands after their death. These seedling trees he brought 

 with him, and though many unfortunately did not survive 

 a protracted voyage, those that remain are now finely estab- 

 lished and give promise of a rich reward for all the time 

 and labor which has been bestowed upon them. Besides 

 these, Mr. Berckmans has thousands of seedlings of his 

 own, as well as a great number of Dr. Brinkle's, — in all, 

 perhaps, 10,000, — from which he hopes some valuable acqui- 

 sitions may be obtained. But Mr. Berckmans does not expect 

 unreasonable results. If even, out of all this number, half a 

 dozen really excel anything we now have, he will feel amply 

 repaid for all that he has done in the production of new pairs. 



It is, we believe, but four years since Mr. Berckmans first 

 began to plant his trees, and to make up his collection of va- 

 rieties. His whole attention during this time has been given 

 to the seedlings, in order to prevent the loss of a single tree, 

 and much that would have been done has been neglected for 

 them, until now, when they are all well established on good 

 stocks, he can devote more time to their cultivation, and the 

 proper means to bring them into bearing. They are planted 

 in rows, thickly, in different parts of his grounds, which are 

 mapped off in a book, and the trees catalogued in such a way 

 that reference may be had to any lot with the greatest facility. 

 It was a rich treat to accompany Mr. Berckmans among his 

 trees, and note the character of the foliage and growth, — the 

 promising looks of some, and the worthless aspect of others. 

 We could have agreeably spent a whole day with him in this 

 round of gratification, listening occasionally to some reminis- 

 cence of Van Mons or Esperen, as some particular tree would 

 call up their memory. But our time was limited, and we 

 could only take a hasty survey of the grounds, trusting to a 

 more leisure opportunity to notice many of the new pears 

 which his collection contains, and which have not yet fruited 

 here. 



Pomological science has a most devoted enthusiast in Mr. 

 Berckmans. All the more modern Belgian pears are familiar 



