516 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
I December 9, 1686. 
Brussels Sprout, Haricots, Stewed Celery, Tomatoes, Fried Parsnips, 
Baked Turnips (in milk). Hot Sweets : Gooseberry Tart and Custard 
Sauce, Christmas Pudding, Dietetic Pudding, Milky R ce Pudding, 
Stewed Apples and Kaisins, Stewed Pears. Cold Sweets: Stewed 
Apricots, Figs, French , Plums. Dessert:—Grapes : Black Hamburgh, 
A'meria. Pears : Duchesse d’Angoul&me, Beurre Diel, Napoleon. 
Apples : Cox’s Orange, Blenheim, and Bibston Pippins, Scarlet Non¬ 
pareil. Oranges. Medlars. Raisins. Nuts: Almonds, Filbertsi 
Walnuts. Cheese. Butter Biscuits. Coffee. Draught Lemonade. 
Seltzer. Russian Tea.” All for 2s. The large room was crowded. Ex¬ 
cellent collections of Apples and Pears were exhibited Jby Messrs. 
Bunyard & Sons, Maidstone ; Cheal & Son, Crawley ; F. & A. Dickson 
and Sons, Chester ; and Andrew Johnstone, Esq., Woodford. Addresses 
were delivered enforcing the benefits derivable from a more extensive 
consumption of fruit and vegetables by the community. 
THE LATE M. AUGUSTE VAN GEERT. 
The following is the address of M. le Comte de Kerchove de Denter- 
ghem, delivered on the occasion of the interment of the above-named 
horticulturist, and admirably pourtrays his character and honourable 
career. -- 
The Royal Agricultural and Botanic Society is to-day again in 
mourning. It is assembled around the coffin of one of its most distin¬ 
guished members, and I come in its name to say a last and supreme fare¬ 
well to Auguste Van Geert—to one of the men who have contributed the 
most to its prosperity. 
A curious and interesting figure was that of this old horticulturist, 
representing among us the strong and virile race of earnest gardeners to 
whom we owe the development of our culture and the renown of our 
Society, He had met in his paternal home those distinguished amateurs 
Van Saceghem, Vander Woestyne, Auguste Mechelynck, Buyck, Vander 
Straeten, De Loose, and Van Coetsem, to whom our Society owes its 
creation. He had met there also those intelligent gardeners Verleenwen, 
P. J. De Cock, Alexandre Verschaffelt, Coene, and many others, whose 
names are inscribed on the first page of the golden book of Ghent horti¬ 
culture. 
A contemporary of Spae, of Ambroise and Jean Verschaffelt, and of 
Louis Van Houtte, he had assisted at the modest commencement of our 
industrial horticulture, and he loved—not without a pardonable pride— 
to recall the active part he had taken in promoting its development. 
An energetic worker, Auguste Van Ge rt attained, by the force of his 
will, an exceptional position in commercial horticulture. His was a life 
essentially consecrated to work. 
His infancy was rough and laborious. His father, Jean Van Geert, of 
whom the good-fellowship and scrupulous probity remain legendary 
amongst our gardeners, fully comprehended the importance of a good 
professional education. Severe for himself and others, he did not hesitate 
to send his son to England. 
This was in 1830; Auguste Van Geert was then twelve years old. 
Those of you alone who know the difficulties and dangers which attended 
_a journey b -yond the Channel at this period can say how much energy, 
firmness and uprightness of conduct were required to command success. 
Nothing could discourage the young apprentice. He commenced work in 
the nursery of Messrs. Knight & Perry, the celebrated predecessors of 
Messrs. Veitcb, and by the integrity and loyalty of his character he quickly 
won the esteem of his employers and the sincere affection of his fellow 
workmen. From this time he became intimate with the most illustrious 
English horticulturist*, and his friendly relations with them were main¬ 
tained till the end. 
On his return to Belgium Van Geert resumed his place in his father’s 
establishment. But he felt that his energies were there too confined ; he 
had a longing for the exotic plants, and he dreamed of cultivating them 
at Ghent with the same care that the English horticulturists devoted to 
them. Thanks to fortunate circumttances he was able to realise this 
dream. The twig became a tree, and made a stem in its turn. 
The importance of the new establishment grew rapidly. It soon 
became that which it remains to-day—one of the three most important 
establishments of the town of Ghent. At the same time that Van Geeit 
introduced into Belgium new plants, he made our gardeners acquainted 
with the most recent scientific discoveries, and showed them new methods 
of propagating plants, choosing the most certain and perfect of thote 
which he had seen practised in England. His establishment thus became 
a veritable school of practical horticulture, and acquired an European 
reputation. 
The Royal Agricultural and Botanic Society, desirous, at this period, 
of having among its members all intelligent horticulturists, did not hesitate 
to invite him in 1814 to take his place amongst its active members, and 
to come and seat himself beside his father, whose nomination took place 
in 1819. 
A member of the Society, Auguste Van Geert took during nearly half 
a century the most active part in our horticultural exhibitions. 
The successes which he obtained were considerable; each year he 
secured the highest and most coveted distinctions. It was amidst the 
unanimous applause of Belgian and foreign horticulturists that, in 1873, 
His Majesty the King named him Chevalier of his order. It was at this 
epoch that he was called to join the Council of Administration of the 
Society. 
All his colleagues will love to recall the frank and loyal relations which 
they had with a man of whom the character and the services inspired in 
all the most profound and lasting esteem. 
Among us, as amongst his own kindred, his memory will be respect¬ 
fully preserved ; his name will survive him in the horticultural world. 
The name which two generations of horticulturists have made illustrious 
will continue, we who know his children can say with confidence, to be 
borne with that dignity, that uprightness, and that self-respect which 
were the characteristics of the two preceding generations. 
May the regrets of all those who surround the coffin assuage the pain 
to which this earthly separation gives birth in the hearts of his children 
and grandchildren. May they convey to the afflicted soul of his loving 
and devoted companion in a long and noble life of work the softest of 
consolations—the tender expression of profound mourning which strikes 
all those who have at heart the prosperity of national horticulture.—■ 
(Translated from the Journal de Gand by Walter P. Wright.) 
PRUNING AND NAILING. 
This is an operation that should be proceeded with in earnest 
as soon as the trees have shed their leaves. Mild or sunny days 
must, however, be selected for doing the work, because the men 
can then do so much more and better work than when their fingers 
are so benumbed with cold that they can hardly hold nail or hammer. 
Fortunately for the young gardeners of the present generation, the 
“ stick-to-nailing-all-weathers ” system has almost become a thing 
of the past, for most gardeners nowadays regulate their work with 
more common sense than their predecessors. Hence it is that on 
cold and frosty mornings manure has to be wheeled on to vacant 
ground, to be subsequently dug or trenched into it, or it may be 
between fruit trees, or as a mulching between rows of Raspberries 
or Strawberries ; and later in the day, when the sun shines forth, 
the work of pruning and nailing the trees is proceeded with, shifting 
from one wall to another as the sun moves round towards the west, 
so as to be working under its genial influence as long as possible, 
thereby rendering the work one of pleasure and pride instead of 
hardship, as well as enabling those engaged to do, as already stated, 
more of it. 
As a rule, pruning and nailing our Morello Cherry trees is 
proceeded with first, because on account of the great number of 
shoots which have to be manipulated they require, like the Peach > 
more time and judgment to train them properly than either th e 
Plum or Pear, and, moreover, they shed their leaves first. Lik e 
the Peach, the Morello only needs the shoots to be thinned out a 
little, leaving, of course, as many young growths as are require^ 
to cover the wall at 3 or 4 inches apart, cutting back the old cne 
to their base, and also any foreright shoots that may have formed 
during the summer to one wood bud. Strong leading shoots should 
also be removed where it can be done, so as to induce a balance of 
growth in the tree—that is, an equal distribution of the shoots 
over the space prescribed to each tree on the wall, and these, trained 
at the distance indicated, should radiate at the same angle from the 
centre on. either side. It is hardly necessary to say that shreds 
should be used in proportion to the thickness of the shoots which 
they are intended to secure to the wall. Shreds of light material 
about three-eighths of an inch wide will be the proper width for 
Morello Cherry, Peach, and Plum shoots of the current year’s 
growth, using stouter and wider shreds for securing the principal 
branches to the wall with, and leaving sufficient room in each shred 
for the development of the individual shoots which they encircle. 
In pruning trees of the Pear, Plum, and Apricot the shoots 
must be spurred back to the wood bud nearest to their bases, and 
the old spurs where too close to each other on the individual 
branches be thinned out a little, as anything like overcrowding of 
the spurs and shoots, whether on trees under glass or out of doors, 
should be avoided as a great evil in fruit culture, otherwise satis¬ 
factory results need not be expected. 
Before nailing any trees that are infested with brown scale or 
thrip, which if not destroyed will themselves destroy the trees in a 
few years, should be taken from the wall by removing therefrom 
the nails and shreds, to enable every particle of the branches so 
affected to be thoroughly painted with a mixture of softsoap and 
petroleum at the rate of 4 ozs. of the former dissolved in a gallon 
of warm water to one wineglassful of the latter, to which sufficient 
clay and a handful of fresh soot, and the same quantity of flowers 
of sulphur may be added to give the consistency of paint. This 
must be applied to the trees with a paint brush, taking care in 
doing so not to knock off the fruit buds. It is certainly a tedious 
process, but I find it is more effectual than the solution of softsoap 
and petroleum at the same strength as recommended above, applied 
to the infested trees with the syringe, inasmuch as the latter, in 
addition to its not adhering sufficiently long to the shoots to be 
effective, fails to reach all the insects on the wall side of the indi¬ 
vidual branches ; in which lease there remains a sufficient number 
of untouched insects to establish a fresh colony the following year. 
