Magasin d* Horticulture. 83 



it worthy of remark, that hedges can be formed of the Portugal 

 and common laurel, of the alaternus, and of the holly ; from 

 which we may conclude that this cannot be done in Belgium, 

 any more than it can in the neighbourhood of Paris. But what 

 astonished him most in the nurseries was the number of plants 

 from the south of Europe which stand the open air. " One 

 might believe oneself," he says, " in Provence, or in Italy, if the 

 air were only equally clear, and equally warm, as in those 

 countries." Notwithstanding this, he found the finer fruits, 

 such as the apricot, the peach, the grape, &c., not ripening so 

 well in the open air near London as in the neighbourhoods of 

 Brussels and Paris. The cause of this discrepancy is to be 

 found in the comparatively uniform temperature of Britain 

 throughout the year, and the hot summers and cold winters of 

 the same latitude on the Continent. With respect to apples 

 and pears. Dr. Courtois says, that it appears to him that the 

 English gardeners do not understand how to prune them. They 

 pinch off too much young wood in summer (ils les ebourgeon- 

 nent beaucoup trop en ete), which destroys the formation of 

 flower-buds ; and they shorten the wood too much in the winter 

 pruning, which makes the trees throw out shoots of such lux- 

 uriance in the following spring, that nothing can stop them. 

 The beauty of the turf in England does not escape the notice of 

 Dr. Courtois ; and it would have been wonderful if it had, since 

 there is nothing like it in the world. He says, he found walk- 

 ing on our lawns more like treading on velvet than on grass. 

 He is astonished at the care bestowed in mowing them, and in 

 sweeping up the grass ; and, at the same time, at the utter dis- 

 regard paid to tlie value of the hay lost by this mode of treat- 

 ment. Some lawns, he says, are mown every week, and the 

 dead leaves swept up every day. The culture of legumes he 

 finds less perfect in England, in some respects, than it is at 

 Liege ; chiefly with reference to making the most of the soil (le 

 bon ernploi de terrain). " Little use is made of legumes in 

 England ; and they are not well cooked." " The pine-apple is 

 cultivated for the rich, and the elder tree to make British wine 

 for the poor." In general, he finds the foliage of our trees of a 

 darker colour than it is on the Continent; which he supposes to 

 arise from the freshness and humidity of the air, produced from 

 the vicinity of the sea and the cloudiness of the sky. 



After these general remarks on the aspect of England and the 

 neighbourhood of London, Dr. Courtois notices the different 

 establishments which he visited, commencing with Mr. Charl- 

 wood's seedshop, in Covent Garden. With the immense bota- 

 nical collections of seeds from America and other parts of the 

 world, which Mr. Charlwood imports, Dr. Courtois was much 

 gratified j not only with reference to the commercial influence of 



