296 Foreign Notices : — Belgium, Holland. 



(our Muscadine), the fruit of which variety is said to be very superior at 

 Fontainebleau and Thomery, to what it is anywhere else. This wall, since 

 the time of Francis I., has been many times repaired, and more than once 

 rebuilt, while the vines have been several times replaced by other plants, the 

 fruit of which is supposed to be of a finer quality. The present manager of 

 this vine wall is M. Brassin ; and he told M. Poiteau, that there is but one 

 vine plant against the wall at present, of all those which he found there seven- 

 teen years ago, when he was appointed to the situation. Even many of the 

 plants introduced within the last seventeen years have been renewed. M. 

 Brassin does not use dung as manure, but a composition formed of the 

 cleansings of ditches, the surface of pasture land, sweepings of roads, &c, 

 mixed well together, and not made use of till after it has stood two years, and 

 been frequently turned over during that time. When the fruit is full grown, 

 instead of thinning the leaves which shade the fruit from the sun, as is the 

 common practice, which is so injurious that the more the leaves are removed 

 the less the fruit ripens, he takes away the leaves between the grapes and the 

 wall, in order that the heat of the sun may be reflected by the wall on the 

 grapes. M. Poiteau truly observes that no leaves can be safely removed by 

 any one who does not possess some just notions of vegetable physiology. 

 (Annates de la Societe a" Horticulture, fyc.) 



BELGIUM. 



? Dammara sp. — I do not know whether you remember what I said to you 

 one day about Pinus pinnata. As I could not find specimens of it anywhere in 

 London, perhaps you will feel interested in the following details respecting 

 what I learnt of it in Flanders. I consider this Pinus a Dammara or at least 

 some genus nearly allied to it. There is a specimen of it, which formerly 

 belonged to M. Parmentier, at Enghien, who received the seeds from India. 

 He raised six or eight plants, but there is only one alive at present, which is 

 at M. Makoy's Nursery at Liege. All the others are dead. This specimen 

 is 18 in. high. The leaves are about 1 ft. long, and are composed of from 

 three to four pairs of small leaves, with a terminating one. They are of the 

 same consistency as those of the Dammara orientalis, but they are only about 

 half the width, and more than two or three times the length. They are of 

 a very glaucous colour, and the leaves are not stiff, but rather droop. The 

 plant is very delicate, and likes heat. M. Makoy keeps it in a heat of from 

 12° to 15° Reaumur. These are all the observations I have as yet been able 

 to make on this plant, and it is too small at present to furnish more ample 

 details. At all events, it is not a Pinus, but a Dammara, or a new genus. It 

 will form a striking feature in the commerce of plants, and, on account of its 

 rarity, it will be one of the most interesting new plants of the age. — Fred. E. 

 Wagner. Ghent, April 4. J 839. 



Ghent Floral Exhibition. — We have had an exhibition far superior to any- 

 thing I ever saw ; the camellias and azaleas, in particular, and also peonies. 

 There were many thousands of plants, arranged with great taste and judgment. 

 It lasted four days; in the mornings for subscribers, and in the afternoon for 

 the public. The prizes were numerous ; medals of gold, silver, and copper. — 

 B. L. Ghent, April 1. 1839. 



HOLLAND. 



Gardens of Balconies, in Botterdam. — Lines of houses have been built 

 rising out of the water, the liquid quiescent mass pressing against the brick 

 walls, and within 2 or 3 feet of the lower range of back windows of the 

 dwellings. Frequently, for ornament and use, small wooden balconies, with 

 tidily painted railings, have been projected from the edifices over the water, and 

 on these were placed slips of green turf and boxes of plants, forming a species 

 of shrubbery in miniature. In short, a back green, measuring 12 ft. by 3 ft., and 

 possessing the usual accompaniments of such a valuable domestic convenience. 

 There is not only, however, water in front of the house and behind the house, 



