256. 



JOURNAL OF HORTIOCLT0EE AND COTTAGE GAKDENEB. 



[ April 2, 1B88. 



produces the effect or not, I do not know, bnt I do know that 

 when they have been cut off in this manner the plants have 

 flowered profusely in the autumn. — E. W. 



THE GREAT INTERNATIONAE EXHIBITION 

 AT GHENT. 



This, the fifth at intervals of five years of the great flower 

 shows for which Ghent ia so celebrated, commenced on the 

 28th of March, and remains open until April 5th. A 

 more appropriate place than Ghent could not be found, inas- 

 much as so many valuable collections of plants exist in the 

 immediate neighbourhood. The great establishments of M. 

 Louis Van Houtte, M. Ambroise Terschaffelt, and other 

 cultivators, contain a very large number of plants of extraor- 

 dinary size, which can be sent a short journey, but could not 

 be transmitted to a great distance without great risk and 

 expense. The wonderful collection of plants brought together 

 at this early period of the year, for it really formed a colossal 

 spring show, was something to be remembered. We shall 

 attempt a brief description of the Exhibition, but to do it 

 justice an entire number of the Journal should be given up 

 to it. 



The interest this Exhibition has excited may be somewhat 

 judged by the fact that 120 Judges were invited from various 

 countries, and almost all were present. England sent 15, 

 Austria, 3, France, 35 ; Russia, Belgium, Germany, and other 

 countries contributing the rest. Here could be met the great 

 men whose names are household words amongst horticulturists, 

 caDed together to award the numerous honours which were so 

 eagerly competed for. 



Everything was arranged in readiness for the Judges by the 

 morning of the 28th, and that day was devoted to judging. 

 The Exhibition was opened on the 29th by the King and Queen, 

 and the Comte and Comtesse de Flandre, who took a warm 

 interest in the Exhibition, and frequently expressed their 

 admiration. Several of the most eminent horticulturists and 

 botanists present weie introduced to their Majesties, and Mr. 

 Henry Veitch was specially sent for to attend their Majesties, 

 and receive their congratulations on the new plants shown by 

 his firm. 



Their Majesties and the Comte and Comtesse de Flandre 

 came purposely from Brussels ; and the Mayor of Ghent, the 

 Comte de Kerchove de Denterghem, who is the IVtsident 

 d'Honneur of the Eoyal Agricultural and Botanical Society of 

 Ghent, took a warm and active interest in the Exhibition, and 

 his courtesy to all calls for special acknowledgement. Will 

 the time ever come when in England we shall see the Eoyal 

 family, and those high in authority, giving such warm and 

 practical aid in the advancement of horticulture, and placing 

 it in the same high position amongst the arts exhibitions as it 

 holds in Belgium ? Especial acknowledgements are due to 

 M. Vandenhecke de Lembeke, the President, to M.' Charles 

 Leirens and M. E. Glaus, the Secretaries, and M. E. D'Huyve- 

 ther, the Treasurer, and the able Executive Committee. AU 

 the arrangements seemed to be perfect, and there was no confu- 

 sion whatever. 



Their Majesties and the Eoyal family were received by the 

 Burgomestre, the Comte de Kerchove ; M. Vandenhecke, and 

 M. Ambrose Verschaffelt, who accompanied the Eoyal party 

 through the entire Exhibition. In the evening a grand ban- 

 quet was given to the Judges and Council of the Society, at 

 which the Comte de Flandre presided, and their Majesties 

 and the Comtesse de Flandre were also present. As English- 

 men we are not always easy to please, but there was no room 

 for grumbling here. It was a magnificent scene, and the 

 arrangements perfect. 



The Exhibition was held in the Hotel Casino, a fine building 

 devoted to fashionable promenades, concerts, &e., where there 

 is a very extensive permanent building comprising a very large 

 salon, staircases, and anterooms ; and passing out on to the 

 staircase leading to what we may call the Floral Hall, a very 

 large building only completed in time for this Exhibition, 

 and, for such a purpose, what an Exhibition met our view ! 

 No formal straight tables to meet the eye, but the large space 

 was laid out as a parterre, and all round the building were huge 

 banks of magnificent Palms, tree Ferns, and other ornamental 

 plants, some of them fully 20 feet high. Glorious tree Ferns 

 and giant Palms were dotted here and there, and then came 

 banks of Azaleas, Camellias, and other flowering things. It was 

 a grand scene, and there was only one fault to be found with 



it-— the building, large as it is, was too small. The writer of 

 this tried at least a score of times to hunt out all the treasures 

 of the Exhibition, but it was a labour to do so ; there was so 

 very much to be seen, and the plants were in some instances 

 so much crowded. A very large nimiber of plants which richly 

 deserve notice must be passed by. 



How the stars of Belgian horticulture shone in all their 

 glory here ! Those giants amongst nurserymen, Van Houtte, 

 the Verschaffelts, the Van Geerts, and many others, sent their 

 colossal plants and rare treasures ; and some of the private 

 collections, such as those contributed by Le Comte de Kerchove, 

 President Vandenhecke, and other private growers, were 

 sufficient to make a large exhibition. To give some idea of 

 the size of many of the plants sent, we just name that the 

 Botanic Gardens here, of which W. Van Hulle is the chief, 

 contributed an extraordinary lot of fine plants. Some of 

 these were 80 feet high ; one grand Palm was 25 feet high, and 

 fully 30 feet through. M. Ambrose Verschaffelt contributed a 

 vast collection, and was the winner of fifty-three gold and 

 other medals. His superb collection of Palms contained a 

 specimen of Phanicophorum sechellarum, 8 feet high, and 

 with grand foliage ; a Thrinax elegans, 9 feet high ; a wonderful 

 plant of Cibotium regale, and a very fine example of Latania 

 Jenkinsoniana. We very reluctantly are obliged to pass over 

 many other wonderful plants in this and M. ip^an Houtte's ex- 

 tremely fine collection, where also we noticed another remark- 

 able specimen of the Thief Palm. M. Van Houtte was also a 

 most extensive exhibitor, and carried off a large number of 

 medals. In the Comte de Kerchove's collections we noticed a 

 wonderfully fine plant of Phcenix pectinata aurea. 



Standing again on the balcony looking to the vast flower 

 garden beneath, what a glorious sight it is ! those grand banks 

 of Azaleas resting amongst those giant Palms and stately tree 

 Ferns. Then there are huge banks of stove and greenhouse 

 plants in flower, many of them very much superior to what we ex- 

 pected to find, and a very marked improvement in their culture 

 has taken place within a few years. Glorious Acacias of great 

 size and beauty, huge tubs of Calla jcthiopica, each with about 

 thirty blooms, and a host of other things are easily recognised. 

 Away in a westerly direction we trace an edging of lovely 

 Lily of the Valley, and from well-grown Mignonette and Helio- 

 trope rises refreshing fragrance. Those grand masses of Azaleas, 

 what a briUiant combination of colours ! the free use of whites 

 and softer colours toning down the brilliant hues of others. 

 Nearly every plant forms from half to two-thirds of a globe, 

 and on short stems. There is no trace of the pyramidal form 

 generally adopted in England, and one is not a whit more formal 

 than the other. In a small state they make most suitable 

 decorative plants for the table and greenhouse. Eonnd about 

 these are large banks of Camellias, and what plants they are ! 

 Some 5 to 6 feet high, most symmetrical pyramids, and in ad- 

 mirable health, with rich green foliage, and densely flowered. 

 There is as wide a difference between the ordinary Camellias of 

 English gardens generally and these plants, as between Turner 

 or Veitch's specimen Azaleas and what are often sold by 

 auction. We have much to learn in Camellia-growing, and we 

 cannot do better than take a leaf out of our Belgian friends' 

 book in this matter. Do we not give them too much light and 

 air sometimes, and not suflicient water and stimulants at 

 others ? This subject is worth looking into, and we will very 

 soon recur to it. Anything finer in Camellia-growing could 

 not possibly be seen. 



We shall next week give a report of many of the leading 

 features of the Exhibition. 



TOBACCO FUMIGATION. 

 Obseeving in your pages a mode of smoking greenhouses to 

 destroy green fly, allow me to suggest one a little different, and 

 practised here for years with complete success. Instead of 

 charcoal use thick blotting paper steeped in a solution of nitre, 

 and carefully dried, and when used roUed up in layers alter- 

 nately with tobacco paper, damp. Do not make the solution 

 very strong, as then the paper would consume too rapidly. An 

 old" broken flower pot wiU answer quite well to burn the ma- 

 terial in. I adopted the charcoal plan formerly, and nearly 

 suffocated myself with the fumes. — Chaeles Guthrie, Tay 

 Dank House, Dundee. 



The Vaeiegated Japanese Honeysuckle flowered freely on 

 the west wall of my house at Gipsy Hill last autumn. The 



