464 



JOUENAL OF HORTICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GABDENEB. 



[ November 30, 1876. 



well-manured ground that we should have better crops, and 

 that we should not be troubled nearly so much with the disease 

 as at present. The sets should be planted G inches in depth. 

 By planting thus early soma may fear that the tops would be 

 cut down by the froEtin spring, but Eelf-set Potatoes are seldom 

 cut down with frost, and that is why I advocate early planting. 

 Potatoes are often spoiled in storing them away. If the 

 inbers are thrown together when they are damp into a very 

 large heap it is quite certain that they will heat, and the steam 

 cannot escape through the thick covering of Eoil which is placed 

 over the heap, and hence many of them rot. My opinion is 

 that Potatoes should be stored dry and cool, and in such a 

 manner that any steam can escape from them, and the bulk of 

 them will then remain sound and good. — A Xotjng Ahateub. 



HANUEING- AND PLANTING EOSES. 

 I think Mr. C. H. Etching is right in his idea of manuring 

 Eoses ; but my opinion is that leaving Eoses on Briars in th9 

 ground five or six years is a mistake. Not everyone who grows 

 EoEes has the time to spare to take them up every year, but 

 every two years they Ehould be taken up and root-pruned ; and 

 Eoses properly treated in this way will never fail to flourish. 

 The first week in November is the best time for removing 

 them ; a good soaking of liquid manure twice a-wtek in hot 

 weather is very beneficial. — E. Bkook, Wesibere, Canterbury. 



ME. CHAELES VAN GEEET'S NUESEET AT 

 CALMPTHOUT. 



Belgian nurseries have been frequently referred to, but these 

 have mostly been the " manufactories " of plants more or less 

 of a tender nature, and which are in general demand for in- 

 door decoration. Such plants as Palms, Ferns, Aroids, Gloxi- 

 nias, Camellias, Azaleas, <fec, are increased and grown by hun- 

 dreds of thousands in nearly all the nurseries of note in that 

 small but thrifty kingdom. Most of the nurseries, therefore, 

 are much the same in their general features, and vary only in 

 extent, details, and a few specialities with which one or the 

 other of them is identified. The nursery now to be noticed 

 is, however, totally different from the establishments which 

 are so common in Belgium, and it is alEo somewhat out of the 

 beaten track of the ordinary wandering horticulturist. It is a 

 nursery of hardy plants and trees, and especially of Conifera?. 

 A pure air being therefore essential, the site was chosen some 

 distance from the smoke of towns, and where the soil was also 

 found favourable for this class of ornamental trees. The 

 present being the period not only when evergreens and Conifers 

 are Eeen in their best garb, but also the time for removing and 

 planting them, Mr. Van Geert's collection may appropriately 

 be noticed. 



The proprietor of the Calmpthout Nurseries has a " home 

 nursery " attached to his residence in the Sue de la Provence, 

 Antwerp. It is here where tender plants are raised and grown 

 in several glass structure?, also where the seeds of Conifers 

 are sown, and where the seedlings are tended and established. 

 It is here, too, where the choicest of the rich .collection of 

 hardy trees with variegated foliage are increased, such as- that 

 valuable acquisition the Golden Poplar, Populua canadensis 

 aurea Van Geerti, the finest of all golden-foiiage hardy trees, 

 of free and noble growth ; and not golden in Belgium only, 

 for this tree has proved in the Hammersmith nurseries of 

 Messsrs. J. & C.Lee all that it was represented by its raiEer, as 

 being as free in growth as the common Canadian Poplar, and 

 with leaves not of a sickly hue, but of a warm and vigorous 

 golden tint, the colour increasing in intensity the better the 

 trees are nourished and the more they are exposed to the sun. 

 Easy as this tree is of increase, the great demand for it has 

 taxed to the utmost Mr. Van Geert's endeavours to establish a 

 sufficient stock, and consequently the trees in the Antwerp 

 nursery were all in a Email state. This tree, which in all pro- 

 bability will in a few years lighten and brighten the park and 

 forest scenery of many countiies, is the result simply of atten- 

 tive observation and the turning to account, as it were, a freak 

 of Nature. Mr. Van Geert in passing through a much-fre- 

 quented district had noticed a bright yellow branch growing 

 on an ordinary Poplar tree, and observing I hat it grew as 

 freely as the mt part of the tree, that it assumed its golden 

 tint early in the summer and preserved it throughout the 

 season, that this was not a freak peculiar to ono season but 

 was the Eame year after year, the tree or branch was secured 

 for further experiment, and thus the tree which will add eo 



much to landscape scenery and its preserver's fame was ob- 

 tained, increased, and distributed. Thousands of passers-by 

 had noticed tho " golden patch," but one only had turned the 

 circumstance to account — the obEervant and fortunate Charles 

 Van Geert. 



From Antwerp to Calmpthout is about an hour's ride by 

 rail. The station is contiguous to the " home nurEery," and 

 tickets are quickly procured. On the Belgian railways the fare 

 is printed on every ticket, and the Etcond-class rates are some- 

 what less than the ordinary third-class charges in England. 

 The speed of the trains is not bo greet as in England, but the 

 carriages are equally well fitted, and travelling if not fast is 

 comfortable. There is also a Etriking difference in the general 

 demeanour of travellers in the two countries. The Belgians 

 are very mach "Frenchified" both in language, and deport- 

 ment — politeness. Each appears anxious to be on the plea- 

 santest of terms with his neighbour ; and " bows and smiles," 

 which appear common to all, are freely interchanged. Con- 

 versation is conducted — I had almost Eaid " fiercely," but I 

 must politely modify the term into animated — in proportion as 

 the speakers have left the old Dutch or Flemish school and are 

 merging from "mynheers" to " ms'soos." It did not appear 

 to be " quite the thing" to "skulk behind a newspaper," or 

 to trample on as many corns as possible in rushing in or out 

 of a compartment. PoliteneES is cheap, but " John Bool" has 

 cot time to raise his hat sixty times a minute ; but as he is 

 generally regarded as having a pocketful of francs his brusque- 

 ness is excused, and he receives the best of attention in Belgium. 

 That is, of course, when as a stranger he is dealing with 

 strangers ; but as friend meeting friend none than the Belgians 

 can be more kind, more hospitable. 



On leaving Antwerp the train appears to be kept as long as 

 possible within the fortifications— that is, the course of the 

 line is somewhat tortuous, and it is not until after traversing 

 some two miles that we penetrate the frowning earthworks by 

 a tunnel bearing the national arms, and emerge in the open 

 country — open but not unprotected, for its depression and flat- 

 ness is such that the waters of the Scheldt can be let loose 

 and the district be submerged, so that an invading army would 

 have to literally pass through sea and fire before entering 

 the precincts of the " strongest fortified city in Europe." The 

 district around Antwerp is proverbial for the fertility of its 

 soil, and the inhabitants aro regarded as being especially 

 thrifty and industrious. Their thrift I will not question, but 

 their industry has probably been overrated. Men and women 

 alike work in the fields and gardens, the women seeming to 

 enjoy it the most, but the Belgians do not "go in" with the 

 zest and vigour of honest English labourers. I say " honest " 

 because all are not entitled to that honourable designation, for 

 in too many instances honesty has degenerated into shiftiness, 

 j and whenever that is the case the man will lose more in the 

 I end than will the master. 



The land nearest to the city is devoted to the cultivation of 

 ; vegetables, but I much doubt if the market gardens of Antwerp 

 are so productive as the market gardens of London. The 

 evidence afforded by the steamers is in favour of the London 

 gardens, for, besides supplying the enormous demands of the 

 metropolis, large shipments of vegetables are sent over to Ant- 

 werp, especially, I believe, of Bhubarb and Celery, which crops 

 would thrive luxuriously in the cool, rich, alluvial soil of 

 Belgium. Farther from the city tho land is devoted more to 

 agriculture. The plots of the respective holders appear to be 

 small, and the majority of them pay their rent in kind, not in 

 money. The landlord finds the land, the tenant finding seed, 

 labour, and manure, the crops being equally divided. In other 

 parts of the kingdom the peasants are small proprietors, but a 

 poverty-stricken look pervades many of the miniature plots 

 and their owners. These humble "statesmen" may be as 

 contented as English labourers, but they certainly do not look 

 so well, and do not enjoy such substantial sustenance and 

 comfortable homes. 



Still further in the country we come to higher and more 

 sterile soil, a sort of grey sand, in which scarcely anything will 

 thrive except Scotch Firs (Pinns sylvestris). Plantations of 

 these Pines are established, not by planting the trees but by 

 sowing their seeds. The growth of trees which have not been 

 removed is much cleaner and quicker than that of transplanted 

 trees. The ground is levelled and set out in beds of about 

 10 yards wide. ' On these beds the Fir seeds are sown broad- 

 cast and thinly. From between the beds the soil is dug and 

 thrown over the seeds, the ground when finished being formed 

 info a Eeiies of ridges and trenches. In this way the trees 



