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HORTICULTURE, 



July 27, 190T 



A WINTER TRIP TO EUROPE BY 



AN AMERICAN GARDENER. 



(William Kleinheinz, before the Pennsyl- 

 vania Horticultural Society, 

 March 19th, 1907.) 



We Germans have a saying that it 

 is the duty of every traveler to tell 

 a story. It is, therefore, in a sense of 

 duty that I accepted the very kind 

 invitation of the Pennsylvania Horti- 

 cultural Society to address you this 

 evening on "An American Gardener's 

 Winter Trip to Europe." While I re- 

 gard the privilege given me as a great 

 honor, I fear that the pleasure will be 

 mine rather than yours, because the 

 trip was a hasty one, enabling me to 

 stop merely here and there and, in 

 most places, only to "step right in and 

 turn around and walk right out 

 again." But if I can in my little talk 

 give you any hint of the pleasure I 

 had in making the journey, then I 

 shall consider myself pardoned for 

 taking up your time. 



Through the courtesy of Mr. P. A. 

 B. WJdener, my employer, I sailed on 

 the Kroonland for Antwerp, on No- 

 vember 21st, and after an enjoyable 

 but uneventful trip of ten days arrived 

 on the first of December. Antwerp is 

 interesting to the traveler rather than 

 to the gardener, and so I journeyed 

 after a little tarry or. to Brussels. 



The weather was of the sort water 

 lilie? like — rain, more rain, and still 

 more rain — so that my sight-seeing 

 was restricted to the Botanical Gar- 

 den in Brussels. Perhaps it was the 

 bad weather, perhaps my expectations 

 were too great — at any event 1 wa.s 

 disappointed in the far-famed Gardens. 

 They do not seem to be maintained 

 to the standard I looked for. But at 

 Ghent I was charmed; charmed from 

 the moment when I alighted from the 

 train. The passenger hall is magnifi- 

 cent. Under a great glass shed, just 

 outside of which the train stops, there 

 are passages of immense size. On 

 either side and through the centre, 

 along those passages, are great grass 

 plats planted with the choicest flowers 

 and not a few immense palms — all 

 this even though the December days 

 had arrived. Contrast December days 

 in this neighborhood with those in 

 beautiful Ghent. 



The World's Finest Establishments. 



My first objective point was the e.s- 

 tablishnient "Socielie Horticole Gan- 

 toise." I had the pleasure, here, of 

 meeting the head gardener, Mr. E. 

 Wartel, and through his courtesy I 

 was enabled to visit some of what I 

 believe to be the world's finest estab- 

 lishments for growing palms, azaleas, 

 and assorted stove plants. Mr. War- 

 te! himself has the finest and most 

 wonderful collection of anthuriums it 

 has ever been my good fortune to see. 

 He kindly furnished me with address 

 of such standard commercial places 

 as those of Mr. Jules de Coock, Mr. 

 Miller Richard, and others — all ele- 

 gant j.nd all of mammoth size. 



In these places the very first step 

 you take shows evidence of good man- 

 agement. Everything is neat and clean 

 Es on shipboard; the plants are all in 

 the pink of perfection. The general 

 cultures are palms, especially Kentia 

 Forsteriana and Kentia Belmoreana. 

 azaleas, bays (Laurus nobilis and 

 I-aurus cerasus), Acacia armata and 



Acacia verticillata, Araucaria e.xcelsa, 

 and a wide variety of stove and other 

 plants. 



On the following days I was equally 

 fortunate in meeting Mr. Oscar d.; 

 Reave, of Mt. St. Amand Nursery. Mr. 

 de Reave was recently in the employ 

 of the H. A. Dreer Company at River- 

 ton, and was of most valuable assist- 

 ance to me. He enabled me to visit 

 all the important places about Ghent, 

 which I bad not up until then inspect- 

 ed. It may be of passing interest to 

 say that through Mr. de Reave I was 

 able zo see the place where the well 

 known Azalea Vervaeneana originated. 

 In a short time Mr. de Reave will be 

 able to supply the newest azalea, a 

 splendid white Vervaeneana. Should 

 any of my gardener friends get to 

 Ghent I am sure Mr. de Reave will 

 receive them- the same as he did me. 



Culture of Azaleas. 

 Perhaps it may be of interest to 

 have me say a few words about the 

 way azaleas are cultivated in Belgium. 

 For Gi'afting, the pinlv Azalea indica 

 is used. The grafts are propagated by 

 cuttings from December 1st and 

 grown for a year in small pots to 

 single stems. They will make a 

 growth of from 10 to 18 inches in the 

 season. After grafting in December 

 the plants are plunged in a propagat- 

 ing bed with sufficient bottom heat, 

 and close to the glass, until they be- 

 gin to grjDW vigorously, after which 

 they are removed to a suitable house. 

 In spring; as soon as the weather is 

 safe, the young plants are set out in 

 beds, where they are allowed to re- 

 main until fall. At this time the 

 young plants, as well as the old ones 

 not sold, are lifted and placed on 

 benclies in shaded houses. As soon 

 as outside work is over, the azalea 

 grower starts in to remove all the 

 flower buds and to trim the plants 

 into shape. The plants are either 

 potted up or planted out in benches 

 as close as possible, and are kept 

 there all winter in a temperature a 

 trifle above the freezing point. When 

 the weather again moderates they are 

 planted out in the open ground, in 

 beds about five or six feet wide. Of 

 these plants, the strongest are sold in 

 fall, according to the sizes wanted, 

 and the remainder go through the 

 course of indoor treatment as de- 

 scribed. To describe the rich, black 

 soil with which the Belgian azalea 

 grower is favored would be to waste 

 your time — every gardener knows 

 what a wonderful, rich soil it is. 



Sander's Marvellous Collection. 

 After leaving Ghent I spent an en- 

 tire day at the establishment of F. 

 Sander & Son, at Bruges. It is the 

 largest and most admirable place I 

 have ever seen. Mr. Gilbert, the head 

 gardener, was kind enough to show 

 ijie every noolt and cranny of the im- 

 mense place, and he l^ept me on the 

 constant move from 9 o'clock in the 

 morning until 6 o'clock at night. 

 There are houses — yes, dozens of 

 houses — filled with orchids. Of cat- 

 tleyas there is a range of at least fif- 

 teen houses. Another range is devot- 

 ed solely to cypripediums, and there 

 are at least ten houses given over to 

 diverse orchid seedlings. Among the 

 cypripediums I particularly noted 

 "Cypripedium Curtisii Newbilio," as 

 Mr. Gilbert called it. It is a new im- 

 portation, but he has thousands of 



specimens. The upper sepal and pet- 

 als much resemble Cypripedium Law- 

 renceaum, but the pouch is a fine dark 

 red. I regard it as a very striking 

 variety, and recommend that it should 

 be extensively grown. 



The next range consisted of I do 

 not Ivacw how many houses, but cer- 

 tainly a great number filled with 

 palms of all sizes. Then, there are 

 houses with azaleas, with crotons, and 

 with stove plants. From range to 

 range we went, until our trip finally 

 terminated at the monster sheds for 

 wintering bay trees. Thousands were 

 here to be seen, from the smallest to 

 monster standards, and in all shapes, 

 standards, pyramids and columns. All 

 were in perfect condition. In passing 

 I noted especially a new croton seed- 

 ling of the type of Craigii, but with 

 larger foliage and of a more vigorous 

 growth. 



I must pay this tribute in closing 

 to Mr. Gilbert (who, by the way, was 

 the associate of our friend, Paul Heub- 

 ner, when he was at Van Houtte's) 

 that he is the only man who ever 

 caused me to become tired of looking 

 at plants. It was because of his ex- 

 ceeding great kindness and his abso- 

 lutely untiring enthusiasm, that I did 

 not visit a greenhouse in my next 

 stopping place, Berlin. 



A Tremendous Palm House. 



In fact, the only house I visited af- 

 ter leaving Belgium was the Palm 

 Garden at Frankford-on-Main. The 

 tremendous palm house there is un- 

 questionably a wonder of the horticul- 

 tural world. You are chaimed with 

 the arrangement the moment you en- 

 ter. The mammoth specimens are 

 planted on both sides of the main 

 walk, leaving a delightful alley, palm- 

 bordered and palm-leaf roofed. 



As a substitute for the conventional 

 lawn there is used Selaginella denticu- 

 lata, and it is magnificently arranged, 

 grown and kept. At the rear is a 

 monster backing of palms, half hiding 

 a rockery with running water. At- 

 tached to the palm house are side 

 houses filled with cold house plants, 

 sucli as camellias, azaleas, pittosporum 

 and many others. Quite recently 

 there vas added a new range of show 

 houses. The centre house is planted 

 similarly to the palm house, but per- 

 haps because I had seen the great 

 palm hotise first the new one looked 

 somewhat empty and unfinished. Side 

 houses are attached and these are 

 used especially for stove plants and 

 for orchids. All are most attractive. 

 In the Palm Garden are, in addition, 

 a range of growing houses, but these' 

 are not conspicuous, and since they 

 are used only for growing to supply 

 the show houses they are not open to 

 the public. 



By this time I felt that my ability 

 to take any new impressions had been 

 exhausted, so I spent a few days, all 

 too short, in visiting relatives and 

 friends, and then I sailed for the best 

 country on all the globe, the dear 

 United States which, I do believe, I 

 never loved so much as when I heard 

 the welcome of friends and saw again 

 the old. familiar faces. If you want 

 to appreciate more than ever you did 

 before your own country, take a trip 

 abroad. If you do, I know that you 

 will be at least able to speak more 

 entertainingly than I have, of "An 

 American Gardener's Winter Trip to 

 Europe." 



