272 Foreign JVotices. 



ges, is the subject of a prize to be given by the Society in the course of 

 the present scvssion. — Newspaper, Jan. 6, 1836. — {Gard. Mag.) 



Strelitzm augusta H. K. — A magnificent specimen of this plant is 

 now in fine flower in the stove of Joseph Wilson, Esq., Clapham Com- 

 mon, under the care of my very esteemed friend, Mr. Joseph Gunner, 

 who is gardener there. — ( W. P. Jr. Gard. Mag.) 



A large plant of Brugmdnshi suaveolens, grown in the garden of Rich- 

 ard Durant, Esq., Putney Hill, and now in flower there, was propa- 

 gated from a cutting in August, 1833. It is in a pot twelve inches deep, 

 by thirteen inches over ; its height is five feet ; and it has a single stem 

 two feet high, with a spreading top, the circumference of which is nine- 

 teen feet. It shows at the present time one hundred and two flowers 

 and flower-buds, eighty of which are expanded. Each of its pure white 

 trumpet-like flowers measures fifty-three square inches ; so that it will, 

 in about four weeks from its first beginning to flower, produce eight 

 thousand five hundred and eighty-six square inches of flower, and all 

 from less than one solid foot of mould. We have another Brugmansia, 

 that was exhibited at Chiswick last year, three years old, which had 

 upon it, thirteen weeks before the exhibition, two hundred and twenty- 

 eight flowers and flower-buds. Another, now in flower, one year old, 

 growing in a pot, size sixteen, has forty flowers upon it. — (J. Spence, ib.) 



BELGIUM. 



Ghent, Oct. 19, 1835. — I enclose an engraving of a new building for 

 the Ghent Horticultural Society : it is intended partly as a cassino, or 

 concert-room, and as an exhibition for plants, either of which names it 

 has as much right to as the one it bears : in fact it is a com])ound of all 

 three. Hereafter a garden is intended to be laid out. The building 

 and ground have cost a great sum of money, and there appears to be 

 much room lost. The building appears heavy, and out of proportion 

 to its breadth ; but, till finished, it is unfair to give an opinion. I cer- 

 tainly do not aj)prove of the compound association, and should have 

 preferred seeing a smaller building, built expressly and solely for our 

 Society ; and, also, that part of the money expended on the present 

 structure should have been set aside for the purpose of giving encour- 

 agement to gardeners and to horticulture,' by increasing the number, 

 value, and utility of the prizes ; which, at present, consist solely of 

 medals ; whereas books and small pieces of jjlate ought to be substi- 

 tuted ; and any surplus funds might be employed to enable the Society 

 to send out to South America an able collector of plants. In the mean 

 time, the present l)aildiug will do no harm ; and, though it might have 

 been arranged nuich better for the purposes of horticulture than it is at 

 present, it is very likely to increase the number of members, and may, 

 in a few years, be the means of benefiting the Society. At present our 

 Society requires many reforms ; and, until such reforms take place, 

 the rules of the Society cannot be called beneficial to horticulture. But, 

 from the present state of society, and from the opinions of some of our 

 most influential members, I am led to believe that the period of reform 

 is not distant. I hope, also, to see a botanical work established by the 

 Society ; for, until the gardeners in this country become perusers of 

 such works, there will never be one who is capable of taking care of, 

 or superintending, a valuable collection of plants, in the way they ought 

 to be cultivated. I send you the first number of a new work, called 

 the he Cultivator, ^c, thousrh it relates more to agriculture than to 

 horticulture.— ( W. T. C. Gard. Mag.) 



