122 



JOURNAL OF HOETIOULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. [ February 6, 1873. 



before long to keep them in check by a wliolesale system of 

 Blaunhter, because they Lreecl so numerously. 



The New Zealaud Jlaories have various names for this bii'd. 

 "Tau-hau," a stranger; " Ivahoni," snow-white eye, which 

 may be interpreted spectacle eye or ring eye ; " Poporhe ;" 

 " Iriugatau," accidental or periodical appearance. We Euro- 

 peans familiarly call it " Silver eye," on account of a white 

 ring around each eye. 



I omitted, when enumerating their diet, to state that they 

 feed their young upon Asparagus berries tor one thing, I having 

 found skinless seeds in their empty nests. I may add they 

 are very fond of ripe Figs on the tree : they serve them the 

 'same as ripe Pears. Elderberry trees. Currant and Clooseberry 

 bushes, they clean aU the trees clear of fruit late in the season, 

 and I may also add they are very fond of my Passe Cohnar 

 Pears while hanging late on the trees in autumn to ripen. 

 Fiom Holly berries and Cotoueaster berries they strip the flesh 

 and east the seeds on the ground. They have already com- 

 mtnoed a raid upon my Black Heart Cherries. The Cherries 

 at the present date (November 21, 1872), only being partly 

 coloured on one side ; yet they wo'n't let them alone. 



A correspondent of a Thanies paper writes — " I see that the 

 small So-called bhght bird is a mystery as to where it came 

 from and when. Allow me to settle the date of their dehfit in 

 New Zealand. They alighted on a mountain twenty miles 

 south of Mount Cook m 18CG, on the 9th of May. I was on 

 tli3 mountain when they alighted on the snow at an elevation 

 of 7000 to 8000 feet above the sea level. The poor little bmls 

 appeared to be driven before the wind rather than come by 

 any power of their own. They appeared to fall in millions, 

 there were so many of them ; and so helpless were they that a 

 person could shovel them up in cartloads. I examined a few 

 of tlie dead ones, and could not find a particle of food in any 

 of them. The wind was blowing from the south and by west, 

 from which point they came— no doubt from some undiscovered 

 island south of the Auckland Islands. One year after seeing 

 them in the South Island, I was surprised to find them as far 

 north as Raglan." — William Swale, 4ro«s/((e Botanic Garden, 

 CliristcJitircli, Cantcrhnrij, N.Z. 



[This bird is named Znstnvpa lateralh by Gray, and Z. tcnul- 

 rnxti-ia by Gould in his " Handbook of the Birds of Australia." 

 lie gave" the specific name because this bird's bill is longer 

 than that of the other members of the genus. Its native 

 country, he states, is Norfolk Island. We have a specimen of 

 the bird sent to us by Mr. Swale, and it quite agrees with this 

 description given by Mr. Gould — " Head, aU the upper surface 

 and wing-coverts olive green, brightest on the head and upper 

 tail-coverts ; wings and tail brown, margined with oUve green ; 

 throat yellow, stained with red in the centre ; centre of the 

 abdomen and under taU-corerts pale yellow; flanks olive- 

 brown ; bill and legs light brown, inclining to lead colour ; eye 

 surrounded by a narrow zone of white feathers, bounded below 

 by a line of blackish brown. Total length, .5J inches ; biU, J ; 

 wing, 2| ; taO, 2i ; tai'si, J." Mr. Swale sent with the speci- 

 men of the bird one also of its nest, a perfect hollow semi- 

 globe of horsehair, and realising this note of Mr. Gould's — 

 " Among the many pleasing recollections connected with my 

 explorations in Austraha, none are more grateful than those 

 pertaining to this little group of birds, whose pretty cup-shaped 

 nests and spotless blue eggs remind one of those of our own 

 Hedge Accentor." — Eds.] 



BELGIAN IIOBTICULTURE.— No. 2. 



M. LINDEK'S, BRUSSELS AND GHENT. 

 From Antwerp to Brussels via Malines is less than an 

 hour and half by ordinaiy train. The country through which 

 the line passes is in general appearance not unlike our own. 

 It is well wooded and abundantly watered. The main differ- 

 ences are that the allotments or fields are much smaller than 

 ours, and the trees, instead of being free and irregular as 

 witb us, are planted in straiglit lines, and have apparently 

 been set out with mathematical accuracy. Whatever may be 

 said of the stern utility of the Be gians, they have clearly an 

 eye to ornament, as is evident by the fantastic treatment of 

 shrubs and hedges, and the grotesque architecture of summer- 

 houses and garden buildings which one sees in passing. The 

 land is mostly under roots and vegetables, which are consumed 

 ii] inlinitely greater quantities than in England ; partly account- 

 able by tlio variation of national taste, but more so, I cannot 

 help thinking, by the inability of the masses to procure an 



adequate supply of animal food by their extremely limited in- 

 comes. In this surmise I was borne out by the experience of 

 a large employer of labour, who informed me that '2d. per hour 

 was the current rate of wages for ordinary workmen, and the 

 price of animal food quite as dear as in England. Under these 

 conditions, he asked, " How can they live Uke youinEuglaud? " 

 Thousands, however, of inferior workmen, I was told, did not 

 receive more than Ihl- per hour. But mind, they do not work 

 like EngUshmen; they could not if they would, theu-_ spare 

 weakly frames and diminutive stature being oonolusive evidence 

 on this point. 



But I am at Brussels, and must leave work and wages for 

 pleasure and sight-seeing. This is a magnificent city, and my 

 impression was that we have nothing at all comparable to it at 

 home. The fine sweeping boulevards arrest attention at once. 

 In some places they cannot be less than CO to 80 yards wude, 

 and contain eight rows of trees— Planes, Chestnuts, and 

 Hornbeams, all in luxuriant health, and as clean as if growing 

 a hundred miles from the haunts of man. This cleanliness is 

 remarkable. All the buildings— and certainly there are many 

 magnificent ones— look as if painted yesterday of a uniform 

 very light stone colour. This pleasing freshness could only 

 be preserved by a total absence of smoke. There is no smoke 

 nuisance here, every particle of the Belgian coal being con- 

 sumable. Trees, shrubs, and flowers flourish in the very midst 

 of the city. The park opposite the Palais Eoyal might be 

 hkened to an oiisis in the desert. The trees are of perfect 

 growth, and the verdant canopy of foliage affords refreshing 

 shade to the teeming thousands who daily and hourly ramble 

 round its umbrageous walks. It is just what a city park should 



be every part free, and every part shady, and so disposed that 



nothing can bo injured without considerable trouble on the 

 part of the depredators, because it contains no fragile forms of 

 vegetation. It is not a hybrid between a wood and flower 

 garden, but is a park pure and simple, and capable of affording 

 the greatest enjoyment at the greatest ease to the greatest 

 number— prime conditions in my opinion to the success of a 

 people's park. 



As to flowers Brussels is singularly destitute. The prevail- 

 ing taste for beauty centres in form and habit more than in 

 mere colour, I saw just one bed of Geraniums and one lino of 

 Calceolarias in the whole country. Petunias are more plentiful, 

 but on the whole flowers are very sparsely used in garden 

 decoration. Aloes, Yuccas, Cannas, and subtropical plants 

 of fine fohage and habit are the staple subjects of garden 

 ornamentation, with trim specimens in tubs of Oleander, Bay, 

 A-c, for terrace work, with Palms ad lib. Belgium is a land 

 of Palms. I have no doubt I saw in three estabhshments a 

 greater number of plants of this family than there are in- 

 habitants in the whole nation. 



After a look round this splendid cily, by sundry signs and 

 motions (for we meet with few who understand English), I 

 found and gained entrance to the celebrated horticultural 

 establishment of M. Linden, a name familiar to the whole 

 world of gardening by the many valuable introductions attach- 

 ing to his indefatigable zeal and enterprise. This nursery is 

 in the Quai-tier Leopold, and adjoins the Zoologidxl c;ardens. 

 " Multum in parro " ought to bo written over the gates, for if 

 there is a place in the world where, in the matter of plants, 

 much is contained in little, it is here. Externally there is not 

 a semblance of show or display, but internally there is a host 

 of Orchids and new and rai-e plants of almost every species, 

 bewildering by their numbers and variety. In Orchids alone 

 M. Linden offers nearly 20,000 plants in 1200 species. It is 

 almost beyond belief that a place so small and unpretending 

 should be the seat of so much that is rich and rare in horti- 

 culture. Here is to be seen perhaps the largest and most 

 complete collection of Orchids in the world, and certainly the 

 most extensive variety of officinal and medicinal plants to be 

 found in any trade collection. The small enclosure is filled 

 with low span-roofed houses standing parallel to each other, 

 the only appearance of ornament being a row of gigantic 

 standard Rhododendrons in tubs at the end of each house. 

 The structures are matter-of-fact useful erections, with brick 

 sides and sunken pathways, calculated to keep an equable tem- 

 perature at a minimum outlay in fuel. Here on a centre stage 

 or bed, with a tank under it, and a narrow stage at the out- 

 side, are arranged the plants, the path running round. House 

 after house is packed with plants, from thousands in small 

 pots to fine specimens of Orchids of greater age and value, 

 all perfectly clean and grown at the lowest temperature con- 

 sistent with health. The Indian house, with its magnificent 



