88 HORTICULTURAL TOUR. 



Botanic Garden. 



We lost no time in repairing to the ]>otanie Garden, in 

 the hone of acquiring from the superintendent correct in- 

 formation as to the private gardens and public nurseries 

 near Ghent best worthy of our notice. In 1797, when 

 Buonaparte every where established what were called Central 

 Schools, he granted to the lecturer on botany at Ghent, the 

 orchard of the suppressed Abbey of Baudeloo, for the pur- 

 pose of forming a " school of plants." It is not of great 

 extent, being, by guess of the eye, little more than three 

 English acres ; considerably less than the present Royal 

 Garden at Edinburgh, were it cleared of some of the super- 

 fluous forest trees, which were originally planted for shel- 

 ter, but which now encumber it. The collection of plants 

 is considerable, and some of the specimens are admirable ; 

 but it is inferior to that at Edinburgh in the number and 

 variety of curious plants. 



On entering the garden, the most striking object is a 

 monument to Linnaeus, containing his bust, placed at the 

 extremity of a walk, and appropriately overhung by an ele- 

 gant weeping willow (Salix babylonica). In Scotland, the 

 extremities of the shoots of this kind of willow, a native of 

 the Levant, and more delicate than others of the tribe, are 

 annually cut off or injured, the new wood not ripening suffi- 

 ciently to enable it to withstand the rigours of our winter. 

 Here, however, the entire shoots acquire sufficient maturity 

 to enable them to resist the frost, and the pendulous ra- 

 muli continue at full length. This consecrated specimen 

 nearly forty feet high, with a straight stem ; and 

 from this height its branches descend gracefully over the 

 ftittiple monument. The effect is beautiful, and is height- 

 ircum stance of a row of Lombardy poplars 



