BRUSSELS, 303 



or early autumn pear, and the latter may be eaten directly 

 from the tree : we had therefore met with both of these in 

 perfection. The new pears, however, ought not to have been 

 eaten for a month, at least, to come. We admitted, there- 

 fore, the justness of a remark of M. Van Mons, that we had 

 tasted them to disadvantage. When we had expressed our 

 approbation, qualified in this way, he signified to us his be- 

 lief that very many of the new pears were equal in quality 

 to those we had tried, and not a few superior. He particu- 

 larly praised the Napoleon, the Marie-Louise, and the Beur- 

 re d'hiver de Mons, raised by M. Duquesne ; and the Bosc, 

 the Thouin, the Duquesne, the Diel, theColoma, the Knight, 

 and the Salisbury, raised by himself. He mentioned like- 

 wise the Sabine (named in honour of the Secretary of the 

 Horticultural Society of London) as a fine new kind ; and 

 told us that he had given to a very large and excellent des- 

 sert pear the name of Sinclair, in honour of the great Eng- 

 lish agricultural improver *. He hinted his intention to 

 publish a Carpologie (or rather Pomologie), in two vo- 

 lumes octavo ; but the numerous and various duties of his 

 new professorship at Lou vain will probably occupy him 

 exclusively for some years. Although the session is short, 

 continuing little more than two months, yet both teachers 

 and students are kept exceedingly busy : during the last 

 session, M. Van Mons told us, he commonly lectured five 

 or six hours a-day, and the subjects were not only chemis- 



* It is scarcely necessary perhaps to mention, that the Knight pear is so 

 denominated as a mark of respect to the distinguished President of the Lon- 

 don Horticultural Society ; and the Salisbury, in honour of the botanist of 

 that name. The Diel celebrates a voluminous German writer on apples 

 and pears. The Bosc is named after the director of the Royal Nurseries at 

 the Luxembourg ; and the Coloma, after a botanical cultivator at Malines, 

 whose collection excels in succulent plants. 



