Mode of destroying the Med Spider. S79 



tural Deputation with me, I thence gathered that the principal 

 garden here was M. Bertrand's. To that I paid my first visit, 

 and was gratified with seeing some fine specimens of Magnolza 

 tripetala and acuminata, Pinus Cembra, and ^^'sculus humiHs. 

 There were also in tubs Eriobotrya japonica, Clethra arborea, 

 12 to 14ft. high; and a fine collection of oranges, some of 

 them very large. A clump of ^Rhododendron ferrugineum 

 formed an exceedingly gay mass. A summer-house on a 

 large mound, the ascent to which was by circuitous shaded 

 paths, into which pipes from a fountain were thickly intro- 

 duced, for the purpose of wetting to the skin any loiterers, 

 being one of the first foreign conceits of the kind I had seen, 

 interested me. When the above tourists visited this garden, 

 it was famous for cockscombs ; but it now presented a sad 

 contrast : the pines also were bad in the extreme ; not a fruit, 

 I should think, weighed more than ^ lb. I was much amused 

 with the contrast this place afforded to our English pleasure- 

 grounds; its black, soft, sandy paths and unmown grass had such 

 a novel and rather uncouth appearance. A remarkable feature 

 in Bruges consists of the vast walled-in gardens in the central 

 parts of the town: one was pointed out to me, which con- 

 tained 16 acres, and formerly belonged to one of the convents. 

 Some men were digging with large long shovels, without the 

 application of the foot; so black, soft, and unctuous was the soil. 

 But although from its appearance it seemed fertility itsel f, yet 

 neither vegetables nor fruit trees seemed to thrive in it. With 

 the exception of pears, this is pretty generally the case at 

 Bruges ; as but few fruit trees exist long in this extremely 

 light black soil. 



I was introduced to M. Chautrell de Stappens, an English 

 gentleman settled here, and married to a Flemish lady. He 

 invited me to spend a day with him at his country seat of 

 St. Croix, near Bruges. 



Sawbridgeworth, Herts, Jan. 10. 1831. 



(Tb be continued.^ 



Art. IV. A Mode of destroying the Red Spider on Plants. 

 By G. J. P. 



Sir, 



As you are very desirous that all gardeners should not only 



be reading but Meriting gardeners, I, for the first time (being 



very young), venture to take up my pen to write a few lines, 



and shall be very happy should you think them worthy of 



T 4 



