JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



BELGIAN WORKS. 



The pomological literature of Belgium will naturally only date 

 from the early nineteenth century, though certain small works, such 

 as " Essai sur la Greffe/' by CABANIS (Liege, 1784), antedate that 

 period. The independent and important horticultural history of 

 Belgium, however, reached its highest point in the middle of the last 

 century, and its literature naturally reflects this period. 



The first work which claimed readers beyond the national 

 boundaries was the work of VAN MONS, " Arbres Fruitiers. Leur 

 Culture en Belgique et leur Propagation par Graine " (Louvain, 1835). 

 This work contains the fullest statement of the famous theory of 

 VAN MONS on raising seedling fruits. It must be confessed that the 

 student will have to search carefully therein to find this theory, so 

 overlaid is it with repetition and contradictions. The work, however, 

 provided material for many lengthy disputations, and so served a 

 useful purpose as a stimulant if not as an exposition. 



Of greater interest for our present purpose is the catalogue 

 of his nursery, " Catalogue Descriptif Abrege, contenant urie 

 Partie des Arbres Fruitiers qui depuis 1798 jusqu'en 1823 ont 

 forme* la Collection de J. B. Van Mons . . ." (Louvain, 1823, 8vo.). 

 The historical value of this little work is very great, and it is now 

 exceedingly scarce. 



The successor to VAN MONS was ALEXANDRE BIVORT, and in 

 1847-51 he published his " Album de Pomologie," an oblong folio in 

 four volumes. This book is of great value as it contains coloured 

 plates and accurate descriptions of many of Van Mons' seedlings, and 

 forms a wonderful record of the great number of new fruits which 

 were at this time being raised in Belgium. The coloured plates are 

 fairly good, better in the later volumes, and the descriptions are 

 excellent. 



The next important work was the result of royal munificence, and 

 was entitled " Annales de Pomologie Beige et trangere." This was 

 edited by L. DE BAVAY, AUGUSTE ROYER, AUGUSTE HENNAU, and 

 BIVORT. Eight large folio volumes were published, the first in 1853 

 and the last in 1860. The descriptions of many fruits are taken from 

 BIVORT'S " Album/' but the greater number are original. The plates 

 are well produced, but are not quite of the highest excellence. This 

 work had a great success and remains the classical work of reference, 

 with BIVORT'S " Album," for varieties of Belgian origin. Since 1860 

 no important pomology has been published in Belgium, but there 

 are two works of historical interest which may be mentioned here. 

 The first is the " Pomone Tournaisienne " of J. B. C. DU MORTIER, 

 Tournay, 1869. It is an attempt to record the gains of the Belgian 

 pear-raisers ; the author's historical remarks are interesting, and are 

 followed by a list of fruits under their raisers' names ; and finally outline 

 drawings and short descriptions are given of ninety-one selected pears. 



