199.The principal nurseries, florists' gardens, and market gardens are in the neighbourhood of Amsterdam, Haarlem, Antwerp, and Ghent. These gardens formerly supplied trained trees, vines, and all the most valuable plants, to Britain and other parts of Europe; and the florists still continue to monopolise the commerce of bulbous roots. Justice (Brit. Gard. Direct.) gives credit to the Dutch nurserymen for accuracy and punctuality; he mentions Voerhelm and Company as tradesmen whom he could recommend; and it is remarkable that the same establishment (Voerhelm and Schneevooght, who now, however, hold separate businesses) is the most eminent at this day. Garden-seeds, for which Holland has long been celebrated, are chiefly grown by the market-gardeners and small farmers round Haarlem. Roses are extensively grown at Noordwyck, between Leyden and Haarlem, for the apothecaries, and the dried leaves are sent to Amsterdam and Constantinople. The sorts are, the Dutch 100-leaved and the common cabbage rose. A striking characteristic of Dutch fruit and forest tree nurseries, is the length of time the trees are trained in the nursery. They are so often removed there, as to have a large fasciculus of fibrous roots, and the fruit trees commonly bear for a year or two before they are sold, at least for local planting. Ready-grown hedges and shrubs, of various sizes and shapes, may be purchased; and as they have been transplanted every third year, like the trees, there is little risk of their not succeeding. At Brussels, Professor Van Mons established a fruit-tree nursery, which he called Pepiniere de la Fidelite in which were grown upwards of 1000 new varieties of pear, raised by himself, and by M. Duquesne, of Mons, since 1803, besides new varieties of the other hardy fruit trees. Krelage is an extensive hyacinth grower; and Perck, near Vilvorde, and Treloux, near Liege, are celebrated for their fruit trees. At Ghent, Mr. Rivers visited twenty nurseries, all of them containing �good things.'
