Mtj S, 1«6S. ] 



JOUENAIi OF HOBTICTILTTJE.E AND COTTAGE GARDENEK. 



3$5 



WEEKLY CALENDAR. 



D17 



ol 



U'nth 



9 

 10 

 11 



12 



\l 

 IS 



DlT 



or 

 WMk 



Tn 

 W 

 Th 



F 



8 



M 



MAT 9-15, 1865. 



Walnut flowers. 



White Li!y flowers. 



Red Clover flowers. 



Partridf-e lays. 



Columbine flowers. 



4 Sunday aftkr Eastkh. 



Lily of the Valley flowers. 



ATeraga Temperatnro 



Rain In 



last 

 38 years. 



Sun 



Sun 



near London. 



Rises. 



Seta. 



Day. 



Nieht 



Mean. 



Days. 



m. h. 



m. h. 



61.8 



39.S 



50. 1 



15 



19af4 



33nf 7 



62.0 



39.8 



56.4 



16 



18 4 



S5 7 



62.4 



40.7 



.■il.O 



16 



16 4 



36 7 



63.0 



41.3 



52.1 



IS 



15 4 



38 7 



61.6 



39.0 



51.3 



18 



13 4 



39 7 



63.3 



40.9 



S2.1 



IS 



11 4 



41 7 



64.8 



41.1 



52.9 



14 



10 4 



42 7 



Moon 



Rises. 



Moon 

 Sets. 



m. h, I m. h. 



21 6 i 41 3 



23 7(9 



24 8 I 42 



22 9 ' 23 

 14 10 ' 10 



11 i 4 



40 11 , 4 



Moon's 

 Ace. 



14 

 O 

 16 

 17 



18 

 19 



20 



Clock 

 aft«r 

 Sun. 



Day of 

 Tear. 



m. 6. 



3 45 



3 48 



3 50 



3 52 ; 



3 53 



3 63 I 



3 53 I 



129 

 130 

 131 

 132 

 133 

 134 

 135 



From observations taken near London durinj the last thirtv-eight years, the average -lay temperature of the week is 63.0°, and Its night 

 temperature 40.3', The greatest heat was 86° on the 15th, 1833; and the lowest cold, 25', on the 15tb, 1850. The greatest fall of rain was 

 1.14 Inch. 



MISCELLAJSTEOUS NOTES MADE IN HOLLAND 

 AND BELGIUM:. 



HY does tlie farming of 

 Belgium so far excel 

 that of both its neighbours, France 

 and Holland ? Let a stranger go to 

 sleep in the railway train whilst in 

 either of these countries, and awak- 

 r-v, ing so soon as he has crossed the frontier into 

 ^_ Belgium, he will exclaim on looking out of the 

 ^ window, " What an improvement in the agricul- 

 ture ! " In all the three countries the farms are usually 

 Tery small — from five to twenty acres — -but in Belgium 

 aJone are they intelligently cultivated ; in fact, the 

 fanning is gardening on a large scale — every crop is 

 weedless ; every -watercourse is neatly opened. Spade- 

 culture prevails, and in digging you see that trenching 

 is usually practised to bring fresh soil to the surface. 

 Manure is applied very abundantly both in a solid and 

 Uquid state. In the liquid form it is distributed to the 

 growing crops from a tub by a man standing in the cart 

 and delivering it right and left by the aid of a jet. 



In the window of a dog-fancier's in St. Martin's Lane 

 may be seen a mild notice that " Puppies' tails are regu- 

 lated," and if it be true that shepherds' dogs' tails are 

 " regulated " in the west of England through so many 

 generations that at last the puppies come into the world 

 tail-less, then may vre not be surprised to hear of young 

 Dutchlings being born with cigars in their mouths. Smok- 

 ing a cigar is a Dutchman's normal state — he smokes all 

 day — he smokes going to bed — some smoke in bed — he 

 smokes first thing when he wakes — and a spittoon filled 

 with sand is in each bed-room to save the carpets from 

 salivary deposits. Fumigation in the plant-houses can 

 rarely be needed — the gardeners fumigate them naturally. 

 The present Botanic Garden at Amsterdam has been 

 established about two centuries, and is memorable as 

 having had among its curators the two Commelins, and 

 being the first in Europe to cultivate the Coffee tree. 

 There is now there a Taxodium distichum which must 

 be about the first of the species introduced from North 

 America ; for it is certainly more than two hundred years 

 old — the gardener said three hundred. It must be fully 

 60 feet high, and its stem 2i feet in diameter. This is 

 in the open garden, and in the greenhouse are noble 

 specimens of Encephalartos caffer, Sabal mexicana, Cycas 

 revoluta, and Livingstonia chinensis ; they are from 20 

 to 30 feet high. But to the garden generally no praise 

 can be given. 



In a nursery at -Amsterdam we saw a specimen of Salvia 

 argentea, a silvery, wooUy-leaved plant very different 

 from the sUvery plants usually employed for edging by 

 our bedders-out. It is a native of Crete, and introduced 

 more than a centiuy since. It will bear our climate, and 

 deserves to be more frequently employed for that purpose. 

 The Zoological Garden at Amsterdam is well supplied 

 with specimens, and is well kept up. Pisciculture has 

 No. 215.— Vol. THI , New Skrie& 



roused even Dutchmen, and we saw there troughs 

 rearing various species of Salmo — Salmo salar, trutta. 

 lacustris, umbla, and fario. There we also saw excellent 

 specimens of the Breda fowl. They deserve to be intro- 

 duced into this country. The grey variety, with its 

 dark-laced plumage, is especially handsome. They are 

 of full average size, the adult cock weighing 7 or 8 lbs. 

 We think our Zoological Society would act usefully if 

 they had a poultry department, and kept separately 

 model specimens of all the varieties of our domestic 

 poultry — Turkeys among the rest, which we mention to 

 enable us to say that the servant is represented bringing 

 in that bird — cooked, yet in its plumage — in that wonder- 

 ful picture of civic portraits by Yander Heist, which 

 would fully recompense any one voyaging to Amsterdam 

 to see— and that " Evening School," by Gerard Dow, for 

 which more than £6000 have been offered — and that 

 candle-illuminated portrait of our WOliam the Third, by 

 Schalken — and that Hare, by Weenix. That picture by 

 Yander Heist abides upon the memory. There are more 

 than twenty life-sized, full-length portraits, each marvel- 

 lously real, even to the wrinkles of the silk stockings. 

 One cannot but regret that they are all effigies of plain 

 burghers — " The Civic Guard celebrating in 1648 the 

 anniversary of the Treaty of Munster" — not a man among 

 them celebrated for more than being a wholesaler of 

 Schiedam. Perhaps, however, there are some of the 

 great Tulip-speculators among them, so that restores us 

 to our legitimate position ; and we may now with restored 

 equanimity journey on to Antwerp, and more comfortable 

 by having relieved our minds by that enumeration, though 

 it has nothing to do with gardening. Let us remark, 

 also, that in a room of one of the railway stations, be- 

 tween Amsterdam and Antwerp, we saw in a hanging- 

 basket one of the trailing plants best adapted for that 

 mode of culture, yet seldom seen in England — Senecio 

 platanifoHus (?). 



Well, we once more pass among those never-changing 

 straight roads and dykes, sentinelled on each side by 

 WOlows, monotonous in form and at monotonous dis- 

 tances. We acquired a scrap of knowledge about those 

 trees from Mr. Van Geert. When they are planted their 

 stems are about 2 inches in diameter, and all their roots 

 are cut off at the time of planting, as they emit fresh 

 roots very readily, and these enable the trees to acquire 

 a more rapid growth than those trees from which the 

 roots are unremoved. Each tree is expected to increase 

 a franc in value every year — that is, when felled at forty 

 years old, that they shall each sell for 40 francs. 



Mr. "S'an Geert's nursery is fully worthy of a visit, and 

 if at the same time au introduction is gained to that 

 gentleman, au acquaintance will be made with one who 

 will be called to remembrance when suavity of manner 

 combined with unobtrusive knowledge is named. He 

 vends trained frviit trees extensively, and his mode of 

 training enables him to grow a larger number than usual 

 on a given space. He manages it after the fashion repre- 

 sented on the next page. 



No. 867.— Vol. XXXIII., Old Semis. 



