224 General Notices. 



7. Transactions of the Society of Middlesex Husbandmen 

 and Manufacturers, for the year 1851: including the 

 Speeches of Hon. Edward Everett and Hon. R. C. Win- 

 throp. Pamphlet, 8vo., pp. 57, 1852. 



All the above pamphlets have been upon our table await- 

 ing a notice. They are all of varied interest to cultivators, 

 and all who feel interested in horticultural or agricultural 

 pursuits. Mr. Teschemacher's address is exceedingly inter- 

 esting and we regret we have no room for extracts. The 

 pamphlet of Mr. Bradford, on the Potato Rot, fully discusses 

 the subject, but we apprehend he is just as far from a solution 

 of the cause of this singular disease as others Avho have writ- 

 ten upon it. The Transactions of th^ several societies are, 

 as usual, full of interest. 



MISCELLANEOUS INTELLIGENCE. 



Art. I. General JVotices. 



Great Exhibition of Plants at Ghent. — The interest attached to 

 the grand exhibition, which has lately taken place here, was general over 

 the greater part of Europe ; arising, no doubt, from its only occurring once 

 in five years. The unsettled state of the continent has protracted the 

 present meeting three years later than usual, so that it is now eight years 

 since it was last held ; consequently the anxiety of all in any way interested 

 in horticultural or botanical pursuits was stimulated in no ordinary degree ; 

 for almost every town of importance, from St. Petersburgh to Brussels, was 

 represented by a professor, amateur, or nurseryman. Continental exhibi- 

 tions differ so widely in character from a great Chiswick show, that I shall 

 endeavour to give the more striking features of it as they presented them- 

 selves, after a very minute inspection ; for although I have witnessed several 

 floral displays in different parts of the continent, this far excelled any that 

 had come under my notice previously. 



Ghent may be said to be a kind of horticultural emporium, where plants 

 are manufactured for the chief continental establishments. The nursery 

 business is in consequence carried on with great spirit and enterprise. 

 The collections in these establishments boast of a vast variety of curious, 

 rare and rich botanical treasures, which to an English nurseryman would 

 be comparatively valueless; nevertheless, in most instances, these are 

 chiefly sought after by foreign amateurs ; we refer particularly to palms, 

 cacti, tender conifers, and variegated plants. The latter are much in 



