HORTICULTURAL TOUR. 



their rich fragrance all around. The European heliotrope 

 (11. Europseum) is likewise not uncommon in the flower- 

 borders. 



In the fruit-garden we first saw pear and apple trees 

 trained en pyramids or en qucnou'illc, i. c. preserving only 

 an upright leader, and cutting in the lateral branches every 

 year. Trees pruned in this manner occupy much less 

 room, and throw much less shade, than those to which we 

 are accustomed at home. It is evident that they can, when 

 thought proper, be placed much more closely together than 

 usual : those before us were planted at distances of eight feet 

 They, at the same time, in general produce a reasonable 

 proportion of fine fruit ; some of the trees in this garden in- 

 deed were fully loaded. This pyramidal mode, however, is 

 calculated only for countries not exposed to frequent violent 

 winds : with us, it could not, probably, be adopted with 

 any degree of success, unless in the most sheltered situa- 

 tions. Even here, at Bruges, where high winds are of un- 

 frequent occurrence, some of the weaker trees had stakes 

 to support them. These qucnouille trees are here thought 

 handsome or symmetrical ; but to our eyes they appeared 

 rather stiff and formal. 



The north side of the fruit-garden is covered with a suite 

 of glazed houses, consisting of five. In the centre is a stove 

 or hot-house for the most tender plants ; on each side of this 

 is a green-house, for sheltering more hardy exotics during 

 winter; and at each extremity is a house partly occupied with 

 peach-trees, and partly with grape-vines. In these last houses 

 there are now ripe peaches, and we understood that many do- 

 zens of that fruit had been gathered ; but ripe grapes can 

 icarcely at all be expected in these houses, the two kinds of 

 fruit not attaining maturity at the; same period of the season. 

 B he had sometime ago been removed, in order to 

 aljow fi<< admission to the sun's rays and to air, — things 



