Foreign Notices. 551 



known variety. Some idea may be formed of the interest the Belgians 

 take in the cultivation of this useful root by the fact that there were more 

 than one hundred and eighty collections of potatoes, among which I counted 

 about forty exhibitors of seedlings raised in 1846 and '47, the particulars 

 of which I will give presently. Vegetables of every description were nu- 

 merous and generally fine, especially carrots, pumpkins, and cabbages. 

 The fruit was magnificent. I hardly know how to express myself suffi- 

 ciently complimentarily of the pears and apples, — finer, I believe, were 

 never before exhibited, certainly never surpassed in quantity or quality. 

 The interest was further increased by some specimens of fine seedling 

 pears, of which more anon. This rich display entirely filled one large 

 salon and two ante-rooms. As for flowering plants, of course, no one ex- 

 pected to see the brilliancy of a spring exhibition, that is out of the ques- 

 tion at the end of September ; but, in every other respect, it was splendid. 

 The noble specimens of palms, ferns, conifers, cacti, orchids, &c., &c., 

 were the admiration of every lover of horticulture. 



Roses were neither numerous nor fine, certainly not to be compared with 

 those I have seen exhibited in France, more particularly at the Chateau des 

 rieurs. Two collections of well-known varieties, in small pots, were all 

 that were shown. General collections of stove and greenhouse plants were 

 numerous, but of course this was not the season to see them to advantage ; 

 among them were some well-bloomed orchids and other plants, from M. 

 Forkel, the king's gardener, at Lacken ; and in the collection of M. Ros- 

 seels, of Louvain, were Mr. Fortune's Anemone japonica, Cuphea miniata 

 and platycentra, Habrothamnus elegans, Justicia carnea, Echites splendens, 

 &c. From M. Louis, gardener to the Duke of d'Aremberg, were some 

 pretty orchids and plants of achimenes, together with Clerodendron frag- 

 rans, Hsemanthus coccineus, &c. ; and in that of M. Decraen I observed 

 Torenia asiatica, Cuphea decandra, miniata, platycentra, and strigillosa, 

 Siphocampylus nitidus, Bouvardia flava, Abutilon venosum, together with 

 several varieties of gesneras, phloxes, verbenas, &c. Among seedlings 

 were some pretty Gladioli from M. Carolus, and some phloxes from M. 

 Radigas, especially one in the way of Van Houttii. There was a pretty 

 good collection of fuchsias, from M. Millet, of Ixelles, but unfortunately 

 the season was too far advanced for them. Several prizes were offered for 

 dahlias grown in pots, and also for twenty-five cut flowers ; in this latter 

 class there were several exhibitors of fine flowers ; some were little if at 

 all inferior to those shown at the London metropolitan exhibitions, espe- 

 cially the stands of MM. Rosseels, Van Geert, Haquin, and De Knyflf, 

 which contained most of the English show flowers, and the best Belgian, 

 German, and French varieties; specimens of Beeswing, Andromeda, Jose- 

 phine, Lady of the Lake, Marchionness of Cornwallis, George Clayton, 

 Victorine, Scarlet Gem, La Belle Blonde, Optimus, Hon. Sidney Herbert, 

 Miss Vyse, Standard of Perfection, Star, Royal Chancellor, Reine d'Angle- 

 terre, Yellow Standard, Aurora, Bathonia, Alexandrina, and Antagonist, 

 were splendid. There were not more than ten or twelve seedling dahlias, 

 but the paucity in numbers was more than compensated by quality ; for 



