Aniriist 8, 1865. ] 



JOURNAL OF nORTICDLTUnE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



109 



greyish brownish Rarb ; there is the Porta del Popolo, through 

 which a strcnm of fair-fiiced meu and women are passing from 

 the daily ovoninK service of tlio Euglisli Cliiirch, held outside 

 the walls ; and here is — Rome. — FiLi.\-Fa;MiN.v. 



CLOTH OF GOLD GERANIUM— SPARKLER 

 CALCl'IOLARLV. 



" R. F." has told us how Cloth of Gold Geranium stands 

 with him, and solicits information as to the success or the 

 contrary of others. I have two circular beds of this variety 

 edged with gi-een foliage ; the plants were all young and healthy 

 when planted out, now, all that is left of them is about half 

 a dozen leaves on each about the size of a shilling, and I have 

 during the last week seen several almost as badly off as ourselves. 

 I may add that the beds are fully exposed to sunshine, but 

 sheltered from all wind excejjt the south-west. Cloth of Gold 

 will do very well in favoured situations in a soil composed 

 of fine mellow loam and peat. Such, at least, is my expe- 

 rience. 



I would like to say a word about Calceolaria Sparkler. It 

 has the best habit of any bedding Calceolaria I have ever seen. 

 Neither sun, wind, nor rain, has any effect upon it. Some 

 small plants in thumb-pots were planted out, and are doing re- 

 markably well. They are thoroughly shrubby ; the colour is 

 scarlet brown, with bright yellow caps. As so many of the 

 bedding Calceolarias now grown have so much of the herbaceous 

 strain in their constitution, I shoiild like to hear how Sparkler 

 is liked, and to be informed of any other variety of the same 

 habit. 



In my letter on softening hard water, page 71, the word 

 " Pears " in the third and fourth line from the bottom should 

 read " plants." — F. Flitton. 



VISITS TO GARDENS PUBLIC AND PRIVATE. 



M. LOUIS VAN HOUTTE's, GHENT,* BELGIUM. 



The travellers who enter Ghent for the first time are no 

 doubt moved, as in all such cases, by very various feelings. 

 To one man it is the city of commerce, of linens and of calicoes, 

 stuffs and cloths ; and its taU chimnies and large factories are 

 indications that his journey wiU not be in rain. To another 

 man it is the city dear to him in its historv-, its achievements, 

 and its sufferings — the city of .Jacques and Philip Van Arte- 

 velde ; the scene of Alba's brutalities, and of Egmout and 

 Horn's sorrows and death ; the city of turbulent burghers and 

 sturdy citizens, whose ideas of liberty were too often that of 

 some of our modern friends — full liberty and thought, provided 

 you agree with them. They rejoice to see the towers their 

 heroes gazed on, and the places where they met and harangued 

 their fellow citizens, places from which Henry Taylor drew his 

 inspiration in his noble poem of " Philip Van Artevelde." To 

 the horticulturist it is the city of uiuserymen jx'f rxceUence; 

 the city of CamelUas and Azaleas ; the home of Van Houtte, 

 and Verschaffelt, and \'au Geert, and the many others who 

 have made a name for themselves throughout Europe and the 

 world at large. Let me say that when I entered it it was with 

 mingled feelings. In a former run through Belgium thirty 

 years ago I had been obliged to pass Ghent by. There were no 

 railways then, and I -was hun-ying home ; but I had stUI enough 

 of feehng to be moved by the story of Ghent, and its eventful 

 histories and noble-hearted men ; and though I bad no calicoes 

 to buy and cotton to seU, yet I did hope to see as a horticul- 

 turist much that might gratify my tastes and satisfy my curi- 

 osity ; and it is a httle of what I then saw that I now wish to 

 lay before the readers of The Journal of Horticulture. I 

 labour under one great disadvantage, for not long ago one of 

 its Editors recorded his impressions of the same place ; but as 

 we -iiew oftentimes in the same pursuit things from a different 

 stand-point, I may perhaps notice some new point, or the same 

 in a different manner, so as to give some fresh notions. 



I found M. Van Houtte crippled m body by an attack of 

 gout, but active enough in mind, and. as far as a brief inter- 

 view would enable me to form an opinion, fully bearing out 



_ • I have used the names by which these places are known in England 

 in preference to their true ones, although we lose much by substituting 

 our anglicised terms. How few remember that ''Old John of Gaunt, 

 time-houour'd Lancaster" was so called because he came from Qand, 

 which we corrupted into Gaunt, and then to Ghent. 



the character given him by "G." Hia establishment is a vast 

 one ; but it must be borne in mind that it is not in a pecuniary 

 point of view resting on his shoulders. The royal arms over 

 the gateway are emblematic, not, as with us, that the esta- 

 blishment serves royalty, but that royalty serves it. In what 

 way I do not exactly know ; but it is, I was infonned, con- 

 sidered as a Government establishment, and not at all corre- 

 sponding to those great estabUshmeuts in our own land which 

 rest solely on the resources of the person or family whoso 

 name they bear. In my tour romid the garden I could not but 

 be struck with the sandy and ajiparently barren character of 

 the soil. Or e would hardly imagine how plants could grow in 

 it ; yet by careful management not only bulbs, but Conifers, 

 Roses, and the like seemed to be doing well. 



The greenhouses are very numerous, and, generally speaking, 

 low-pitched and very dark, the importance of keeping off the 

 glaring suu in summer leading to the necessity of great shad- 

 ing. The quantity of glass is enormous, and the stock propa- 

 gated and contained in them very large. Thus, there were at 

 least 40,000 Camellias of various sizes, and of all the valuable 

 kinds, as well as the older sorts. 8000 Imbricata and 7000 

 Fimbriata will show on which kinds the run is mainly made for 

 decorative purposes ; but there were quantities of such fine 

 kinds as Lavinia Maggi, Auguste Desfosses, and Duchesse de 

 Berri, and I must say in a very excellent state of cleanliness 

 and health, affording a remarkable contrast to the French 

 nurseries in this respect. The manner in which the various 

 markets were catered for is somewhat curious. Here were 

 large quantities of Pandanus, Dracsnas, Cycas, and Palms of 

 various kinds : most of these were for the Paris market, where, 

 as every one knows, so much is done in the way of decorating 

 houses, hotels, <S;c., with living plants — a custom which one 

 would be glad to see adopted more in London. How much the 

 dull character of the entrances even of such houses as the 

 Langham and Grosvenor Hotels would be taken away if the use 

 of these plants were more general. I was surprised to see at 

 the " Jlirabeau " the quantity that was purchased from day to 

 day, and I canuol bu I think the same expenditure might be 

 profitably made with us. To one house in Paris alone 1200 

 Pandanus had been sent during the last year. The Cycads 

 found their way many of them to Saxony, where two, three, 

 four, five, and sometimes ten and fifteen francs are given for 

 single leaves of Cycas revoluta for carrying in fimeral pro- 

 cessions, where it seems to be the custom so to use them, and 

 to strew the churches with branches of the common Yew. 

 The clief informed me that these ornamental plants were 

 more looked for in England now than formerly. Then, again. 

 Gloxinias, Tydieas, and kindred plants were grown in very 

 large quantities, upwards of 20,000 Gloxinias alone being grown ; 

 and ArnaryUids in large numbers, upwards of 60,000 bulbs in 

 various stages of growth being in one quarter of the ground. 

 This bulb ought surely to be more generally grown than it is, 

 its showy character and easy culture fully entitling it to a place, 

 and there are now many very beautiful varieties. Among the 

 tree Fenns were some large specimens ; a magnificent one of 

 Alsophila glauca, sunk in the floor of the house, had fronds 

 that extended 20 feet, and was said to be the largest specimen 

 in Europe. There were also fine specimens of Cibotium 

 princeps, the Cyatheas, and other members of this very fashion- 

 able family. It is well known that M. Van Houtte deals largely 

 in novelties, comprising plants of aU kinds, from the ordinary 

 softwooded plants to the glorious Palms of the tropics. Amongst 

 new Azaleas two were very highly spoken of — Charles Van 

 Eechhaute and President Victor Van den Hecke. The former 

 was described to be of a very briUiant colour and good shape; 

 the latter, white striped with carnation ; but as they were not 

 in bloom I could not decide as to their superiority to those in 

 the same class already sent out both from Bclgiiun and England. 

 Most horticulturists know that Van Houtte is the pubUsher 

 and editor of " Flore des Serres," and the visitor may see the 

 workmen engaged on it in the establislunent, where it is aU 

 superintended by the watchful eye and keen judgment of 

 jr. Van Houtte himself. At another part of the groimd is a 

 steam-engine, which cuts laths, pumps water, grinds paint, 

 and manufactures flour ; while again you meet with gas-works 

 for supplying all the gas used in the estab^shnient. That 

 such an establishment requires no ordinary mind to direct it 

 may weU be imagined, and all who come in contact with 

 M. Van Houtte at once recognise him as such ; and while he 

 is, no doubt, seconded by able superintendents in the various 

 departments, much of the fame and success of the estabhsh- 

 ment is to be attributed to him. There was not, certainly, such 



