60 



CANADIAN HORTICULTUIUST. 



found their way to some drain. Some 

 think that its roots are in the banks 

 of the Thames, but a short distance 

 away. The roots are supposed to spread 

 over an area of 726 square yards, so that 

 fertilizers spread on the soil within this 

 space have a very beneficial effect on 

 the vine's growth. Water applied 

 within this area also shows its effects 

 very soon, This would seem to indi- 

 cate that the theory of the roots reach- 

 ing the river is erroneous, otherwise 

 drought would have no effect. When 

 the vine is in full growth and the symp- 

 toms of dryness are shown on the 

 leaves ; as soon as water is supplied 

 the symptoms are subdued and the 

 foliage again assumes its natural green, 

 firm and erect habit. The vine has a 



glass-house for its own accommodation, 

 the dimensions of which is 2200 square 

 feet, the branches are trained along 

 the top of this for 200 feet and bear in 

 fruitful years 2,500 bunches. The 

 fruit is given to the Queen, who it is 

 said distributes it to the inmates of some 

 charitable institutions. King George 

 III. enjoyed its fruit for half a century. 

 In 1822 the stem was thirteen inches 

 in circumference and branches 114 feet, 

 and in one year produced 2,200 bunches 

 of grapes, each bunch averaging one 

 pound weight. This Hampton Court 

 Black Hamburgh Vine has now numer- 

 ous offspring in many places, for 

 many at the proper season secure 

 cuttings and from tliem develop 

 vines. 



A PROMINENT AMERICAN HORTICULTURIST. 



MR. P. J. BERCKMANS, President of the American Pomologioal Society. 



MANY of our Canadian readers 

 have long known and honored 

 the name of Marshall P. Wilder, so long 

 President of the American Pomological 

 Society, whose death we chronicled in 

 Vol. X, page 41. We now take plea- 

 sure in showing a likeness of his suc- 

 cessor, Mr. P. J. Berckmans, who was 

 elected to the ofiice at the meeting last 

 autumn at Boston. 



This gentlemanis anative of Belgium, 

 where he was born in 1830, and is the 

 son of Dr. L E. Berckmans, an eminent 

 European pomologist. Coming to the 

 United States in 1850 he became in- 

 terested in the country, and purchasing 

 land in New Jersey remained there 

 some six years engaged in his favorite 

 pursuit. He then removed to Georgia, 

 purchasing the property now so well 



known as " Fruitland," where he de- 

 voted himself to horticultural pursuits 

 with greater zeal than ever. It was 

 he who organized the Georgia State 

 Horticultural Society, of which he has 

 ever since been president, and in 1860 

 he became a member of the American 

 Pomological Society, of which he suc- 

 ceeded Mr. Cliarles Downing, in 1871, 

 as chairman of the committee on native 

 fruits. 



Considering his liberal culture, his 

 extended experience, and his horticul- 

 tural knowledge, it is probable that no 

 man in the United States is better fit- 

 ted to fill this position of President of 

 the American Pomological Society than 

 Mr. P. J. Berckmans, of Augusta, 

 Georgia. 



