ROTTERDAM. 121 



Not a few Scottish merchants have settled in this com- 

 mercial town. To some of these our friends had given us 

 letters of introduction ; and they received us as country- 

 men would wish to be received. Mr Ballingal, formerly 

 of Leith, was particularly obliging, in conducting us perso- 

 nally to some of the principal places deserving the attention 

 of strangers. 



From him we learned that at Rotterdam, or around the 

 town, there are no nurseries of any note ; and the trifling 

 nature of the ornamental plants exposed for sale in the 

 market-place, convinced us that the business of a florist-cul- 

 tivator is scarcely known here. A single dealer in flower- 

 roots had erected a temporary booth in one of the streets, 

 for the sale of his vegetable wares. His visible stock was 

 not large ; and we found that the bulbs of the hyacinth 

 and polyanthus-narcissus, when thus sold in retail in Rot- 

 terdam, bore nearly the same price as in Edinburgh. 



Van Schenerts Garden. 

 Mr Ballingal took us to a garden remarkable for con- 

 taining a large collection of curious plants. It belongs 

 to the Heer Van Schenen, a gentleman far advanced in 

 years, but who still takes pleasure in the cultivation of his 

 rarities *. Over the garden-door, are painted the words 

 Hortus Botanlcus. We descended some steps to it, and 

 soon observed that the waters of the canal whose bank we 

 had left, were more than on a level with our heads. This 

 is a common case in Holland ; but it had not before so 

 distinctly presented itself to us. The garden would be 

 considered as of very small dimensions for a botanical re- 

 pository, any where else than in the neighbourhood of a 



* We understand that this venerable cultivator is now no more, and that 

 his garden and botanical collection have become the property of M. Bicker of 

 Rotterdam.— August 1819. 



