358 Notes made during a Professional Tow- 



to the town, through a fine avenue of elm trees, is really beautiful. 

 It is surprising that such a large town, with the facilities for 

 trade afforded by its canals, should be at present so very dull. 

 After nightfall, not a person is to be seen in the streets, and 

 every place seems as quiet as if there were not a living creature 

 in the town. From the extent of the place, I expected to 

 find some good nursery gardens, but these are few and unim- 

 portant. There is no botanic garden ; but there is what they call 

 a philharmonic garden, supported by subscription, the use of 

 which is, as the name implies, for the subscribers and their fa- 

 milies to assemble in on Sundays and holidays during the sum- 

 mer season, to enjoy music, and partake in other amusements. 

 This garden is neatly laid out, and well answers, no doubt, the 

 purpose for which it was designed. It contains some fine clumps 

 of the different varieties of azaleas, rhododendrons, and Chinese 

 and Noisette roses, &c. ; and there is a neat plain building in 

 the centre, where the members have their public meetings. I 

 visited several private gardens near Bruges, but found nothing 

 in them at all interesting. From Bruges to Ghent you pass 

 through a beautiful level country, well cultivated, and finely 

 diversified with wood and water; the different branches of the 

 great canal meeting the eye at almost every turning, the noble 

 avenues of elm and other trees planted in straight lines along 

 the roadside, and the similar avenues branching off right and 

 left, give a fine variety to the appearance of the country, and 

 have altogether a pleasing effect to the eye of a stranger. Not 

 a single patch of ground seems to be left unoccupied; every 

 place is either under cultivation, or in woods ; even the small 

 open drains that take the water off the fields, and divide one 

 from another, are planted with rows of alders or hazels on 

 each side. These trees are cut down every seven years, or so, 

 for hop poles, and for many other purposes. The farmers seem 

 to be rather an industrious set of men ; but, from the low prices 

 at which they sell the produce of their land, they are poor. The 

 horses here seem well adapted for heavy work, being short and 

 stout built ; and, from the sort of reins generally used, they must 

 be extremely docile, and easy to manage. A great deal of the 

 field labour, where the farms are small, which is very often the 

 case, is performed by the spade instead of the plough ; and the 

 sandy nature of the soil renders spade operations particularly 

 easy. 



The approach to Ghent is not so good as that to Bruges ; and 

 there are not any fine avenues of large trees, most of them being 

 lately planted. Ghent, it is well known, is a large manufac- 

 turing town ; and before the last revolution it was a flourishing 

 place: but at the present time its trade is very much injured, 

 nearly one half of the manufacturers being out of work, and 



