'JJti HORTICULTURAL TOUR. 



the poet, Hooft the Dutch Tacitus, BynkershoeJc their 

 Blackstone, and Burrnan their " coryphaeus of letters. 1 ' 



Kalverstraat is the Bond Street of Amsterdam, abound- 

 ing with shops for the sale of jewellery, china and crystal 

 wares, mirrors, paintings, prints and books. The street is 

 narrow, but the shops are elegant, and most richly furnish- 

 ed with goods. 



There is still another society, with a Latin title in the 

 ablative absolute, — Concordia et Libertate. It seems to 

 resemble our Edinburgh Speculative Society ; every one in 

 his turn reading an essay or oppugning it, and such other 

 members as choose taking part in the debate. 



We had only a passing view of the Rasp-Hnys, a kind 

 of Bridewell, so called from the circumstance of the in- 

 mates being chiefly occupied in rasping Brazil-wood and 

 log-wood for dyers. The entrance is ornamented with 

 some well executed pieces of sculpture in bas relief, repre- 

 senting various wild animals in harness. — The Spiri-Huys 

 is a sort of work-house for persons guilty of minor offences; 

 and it also serves as a house of refuge for the destitute. 



But we are probably wandering too far from the proper 

 subject of this volume; and hasten to return, by taking 

 some notice of the utility of Dutch ashes in gardening. 

 A few words may first be said regarding the fuel from 

 which the ashes are produced. 



Fuel. 

 Holland is necessarily destitute of mines and minerals. 

 The merchants supply metals in abundance, but the car- 

 riage of coals from Newcastle or the Frith of Forth, is 

 found too expensive, to permit of their being generally 

 H -ed. Without coals, and without copse-woods, the Dutch 



