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JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ September 19, 1865. 



robust, and there is a metallic lustre about it which adds to its 

 interest ; but aU the Marantas will be eclipsed, even Veitchii, 

 by gome new ones (of which more anon), which Mr. Linden has 

 obtained from his collector, Mr. WaUis, in the virgin forests of 

 the high Amazon. 



In the fernery there were some fine plants of both tree Ferns 

 and others, but there was nothing very remarkable either in 

 the kinds gi'own or in the manner of growth. A house was 

 set apart for fine-foliaged plants, and in it were to be found 

 tome flue specimens of Caladiums, Cnlocasias, and other 

 Ai-oids, such as Anthurium Ghiesbreghtii and magnificum, 

 Alocasia Veitchii, Alocasia macrorhiza variegata, etc. Here I 

 may notice, that Madame d'Hanis exhibited at Amsterdam 

 seventeen or eighteen species of the beautiful but very miffy 

 Anfpctochilus ; they had not, however, been bettered by tlieir ap- 

 pearance in public, a complaint which, I believe, many English 

 and foreign exhibitors had to make as well. There was, of 

 com-se, a fine CameUia-house in which trees planted out were 

 gi-owing luxm-iantly ; but I do not think they were equal to 

 many collections I have seen in England. There was a re- 

 markably complete collection of Agave, plants very little grown 

 or admired in England, but which here were grown in large 

 numbers. Amongst the most remarkable were fiUfera, with its 

 cui-ious thread-like appendages, Ghiesbreghtii, Verschaffeltii, 

 xylinaeantha, yuccffifoUa, mexicana, and Eumphii. These were 

 placed in the open air and were evidently une of the pet plants 

 of the place. I also noticed in the garden, Iresine Herbstii, 

 grown in a bed with one of the species of Mesembryanthemum, 

 and very pretty it looked, quite confirming my opinion, that 

 it will make a desirable plant for variety ; but bedding-out there 

 was none in our sense of the term. Among some remarkable 

 plants which I noticed in the houses (a detailed account of all 

 therein would be useless), were Areca Verschaffeltii, a most 

 beautiful and gi-aceful Palm ; and Adelaster albo-venosus, a 

 beautiful glossy green creeper with white nenures, but which 

 the gardener stated to be a very difficult plant to grow ; here, 

 however, it seemed to be succeeding very well. There was a 

 plant of Lilium auratum with thirteen blooms, but the blooms 

 were crowded together and were smaU. This Lily is as much 

 admired by the Belgians as by ourselves. 



^ After the inspection of the garden we were courteously in- 

 vited to enter the house and see the large collection of gold 

 and silver medals, the trophies of Madame d'Hanis's success. 

 They were beautifully an-anged in a very handsome cabinet, 

 and were upwards of thi-ee hundred in number, whUe the other 

 side of the recess was to be filled up in a similar manner, a 

 large number of medals having already been obtained, nearly 

 .sufficient to fill it. With us a more prosaic view of these matters 

 is taken, and " de cash," or a handsome piece of plate is more 

 valued. Does it betoken more desire for " La gloire," than we 

 exhibit ? 



Such was my horticultural experience at Antwei-p. It is not 

 a place where horticulture seems at home, and the traveller 

 who is imbued with such notions will hardly find it worth his 

 while to visit it for this. How rich it is in other respects every 

 one kniows. What glorious Rubens those are in the cathedi-al ! 

 and what gems in the Musee ! One sight I should not like to 

 have missed at the latter place, and that was M. de Filleul, a 

 well-known artist, who having been bom without arms has 

 succeeded by perseverance and energy in attaining consider- 

 able reputation as a painter, and that by his feet. It was 

 cei-tainly very wonderful to see him holding his palette with 

 one foot, and his brush in the other, and painting with the 

 greatest ease. Not only does he do this, but shaves himself, 

 and, in fact, makes his feet perform aU the functions that we 

 use our hands for. He can unscrew the little tubes of paints, 

 and when we were leaving gave with his foot to my wife one of 

 his cards, which he had selected from his box. One could 

 not but feel admiration for a man who had thus so signally 

 triumiihed over difficulties. He was a gentlemanly man, and 

 his whole appearance and manner very pleasing. — D., Deal. 



four weeks — if the atmosphere be cold and dry I leave them 

 longer — then fill in with manure or fresh earth, and I have a 

 splendid crop of fruit without suffering from caterpillars. — 

 James Pim, Monkstoini, Dublin. 



DESTROYING GOOSEBERRY CATERPILLARS. 



Under this head I read in your Number of September ,5th 

 the mode adopted by Mr. McGregor. For the past ten years I 

 have pursued the same course, and scarcely during that time 

 do I recollect of a single infested tree. In November or Decem- 

 ber I have the earth taken from the stem of each tree for about 

 the space of 18 inches all round, and as deep as the roots will 

 permit. I leave the roots exposed to the weather for three or 



GLEANINGS FROM ROCK AND FIELD 



TOWARDS ROME.— No. .5, 



It is not to modern Rome alone, even though it contain 

 St. Peter's, that the traveller turns with longing eye and heart. 

 The grip of the mighty heroes of ancient days is upon him, 

 and he must perforce follow where it leads. There is, perhaps, 

 no place in Rome about which one's fancy lingers so much as 

 about the noble ruins of the Colosseum. Each blade of grass, 

 each simple flower adorning the crumbling masonry, seems bap- 

 tised in blood. There the gladiators were " butchered to make 

 a Roman holiday" — there, shrinking Christian matrons and 

 timid girlish forms were torn and mangled by wUd beasts, while 

 Roman men and women looked on and smiled approvingly — 

 there, St. Ignatius breathed his last in agony, and a whole " noble 

 army" of martyrs were done to death by cruel heathen hands. 

 The mind is well nigh lost in contemplating the exceeding 

 vastness of this stupendous amphitheatre, the colossal size of 

 which earned for it the name of Colosseum, and occasioned the 

 prophecj' mentioned in Childe Harold. 



" While stands the ColoHseum, Rome shall stand; 

 When falls the Colosseum. Rome shall fall; 

 And when Rome falls, the world." 



Several of the flights of stairs leading to the galleries are 

 remaining. I mounted oue of these, and wandered round the 

 huge ruins, gathering some of the 420 species of wild flowers, 

 said by Dr. Deakin to find a home there ; then I sat down, and 

 dreamed of the terrible days of old. Presently I looked up. 

 Beneath nie, by the side of a cross, kneeling in prayer, was a 

 little child, holding his mother's hand — no other figure pre- 

 sented itself in all the vast arena. It was a beautiful picture, 

 that " Triumph of the Cross," seen from the gallery of the 

 Colosseum. Insensibly the mind wandered back near eighteen 

 hundi'ed years, bringing vividly before one the record come 

 down to us of the death in this amphitheatre of that " little 

 child" whom our Lord presented to His disciples as a model 

 of humility, and who grew up to be St. Ignatius, the disciple 

 of St. John, and the bishop of Antioch. Tradition tells us that 

 the Emperor Trajan, in honour of whom was built the column, 

 caUed by his name, and still existing at Rome, being in Antioch, 

 cited St. Ignatius before him for refusing to worship the gods. 

 The bishop answered the charge by eloquently and fearlessly ex- 

 posing the follies of paganism : he was condemned to be thrown 

 to the lions, and ordered to be conducted to Rome to suffer with 

 malefactors in the new amphitheatre there. We are told that 

 St. Ignatius heard the sertence with joy, assisted in putting 

 on his own chains, and set out on the long journey as one 

 traveUing towards home. Brought into the arena, he knelt, 

 and exclaimed in a loud voice, "Romans present at this 

 spectacle ! know that I have not been brought to this place by 

 any crime, but in order that by such means I may merit the 

 fruition of the gloiy of God, for love of whom I have been 

 made prisoner. I am as grain of His field, and must be ground 

 by the teeth of the lions that I may be converted into bread fit 

 for His table." The lions were then let loose, and devoured 

 him, leaving nothing of his body but the larger bones, which 

 the Christians collected during the night for bmial. Hundreds 

 of other Christians suffered within these walls as St. Ignatius 

 suffered, so that each stone has a voice for Christians such as 

 no other building in Rome can have. 



No one but a dweller in Rome could understand the exceed- 

 ing difference of temperatm-e to be found within the six acres 

 which comprise the arena of the Colosseum ; it is this circum- 

 stance which makes its flora so very interesting to botanists. 

 Within and upon its walls are to be foimd plants requiring 

 dampness and dryness, warmth and coolness of soil and atmo- 

 sphere for their development. The Cyclamens hederai-folium, 

 em-opiEUm, and neapolitanmn are to be found there; but the 

 hederfefolium and europium would be the most generally known, 

 from their blooming in the spring, when English visitors are 

 most di-awn to the Colosseum to witness the processions of the 

 confraternities to the stations erected round the arena by Pio 

 Nono. The Asperuia odorata adds its treasure of sweetness to 

 the scentless beauty of the Anemone hortensis, while the Myo- 

 sotis arvensis claims a familiar nod, together with the Borago 

 officinalis, the latter so pleasantly suggestive of iced claret-cup 



