Horticultural Tour in the Netherlands. 399 



nurseries, all containing more or less what we call " good 

 things:" they told me Germany was their principal mart, and 

 the support of their trade. Almost all had one or two pretty 

 good green-houses. A few were built in the manner of those 

 in the London nurseries : these were pointed out to me by the 

 owners with pride, as in " la maniere Anglaise." The pro- 

 prietors of these nurseries seemed generally very industrious ; 

 they were all clad in their working-dresses, with sabots and no 

 stockings, and dining, as I more than once witnessed, on coffee, 

 rye bread, and butter, they gave me no very high idea of their 

 wealth, though I afterwards understood that these appearances 

 were more owing to economy than poverty. 



Before I leave Ghent, I must mention the botanic garden, 

 which is open to the public as a promenade, and contains 

 some fine specimens of the following hardy plants : — Celtis 

 cordata, Magnolm auriculata, Quercus Phellos, Gymnocladus 

 canadensis, Larix pendula, Robinz'a viscosa. Several of the 

 finest exotics in boxes, placed in different parts of the gardens, 

 were dedicated to botanists of eminence. Some venerable 

 bays, from 8 to 9 ft. high, in boxes and pots, so old that their 

 stems were hollow ; also some old myrtles and oranges, all 

 shorn into ball-like heads and naked stems, attracted my no- 

 tice. For a botanic garden the collection was meagre, and 

 the herbaceous borders were very bare ; of many genera not 

 a single species existed. There were numerous promenaders, 

 who seemed to enjoy the garden, and carefully to abstain 

 from injuring the plants. 



I must be allowed here to introduce something not particu- 

 larly appertaining to gardens and gardening ; viz., that pretty 

 assemblage of the sweetest whitewashed cottages, with green 

 window-shutters and neat gardens, I ever saw, the " Be- 

 guinage." Sterne's tale of the " Fair Beguin " came forcibly 

 to my memory, and made me enchanted with the spot and its 

 associations. 



In the market at Ghent I saw but few flowers or plants 

 exposed for sale, and nothing among vegetables deserving 

 particular notice ; but some baskets of fine apples in the fruit 

 market merit a few words. At the table d'hote at my hotel 

 (de Vienne), I saw every day a few plates of these apples, 

 quite flat, and streaked with red, which were preferred to the 

 strawberries and cherries ; surprised at this, I tasted them, 

 and found them delicious, quite plump, juicy, and fine-fla- 

 voured. They were called the Com* pendu.* 



* I think known in England as the Court pendu plat. 



