54 HORTICULTURAL TOUR. 



Most of these plants arc of great beauty, and some of 

 them are very seldom seen in flower. In the case of the 

 moss-rose, however, the Society must have been influenced 

 by the consideration of the plant having been exhibited in full 

 flower at the unusual season of midwinter. We may add, 

 that all of those plants have occasionally produced their 

 flowers in Britain. Quantities of some of the finest and 

 most fragrant of them are yearly prepared for the London 

 market, by the active and tasteful nurserymen near the ca- 

 pital, incited by the high prices readily procured for them ; 

 particularly of the Ixora coccinea and Gardenia florida, 

 which are forced into flower in the spring months, by sub- 

 jecting them to a considerable degree of moist heat. 



AW 1 may here notice, that an ornamental variety of Pelar- 

 gonium inquinans, with double flowers, is very common at 

 Ghent, no fewer than ten different competitors having exhi- 

 bited flowering specimens of it at the last festival : this va- 

 riety, we believe, has not yet reached Scotland. 



Having ordered a carriage we now set off, by the Port 

 of Courtrai, for the villa, at Maltebrugge, of M. Meule- 

 meester van Aken, the principal banker in Ghent, and for 

 the country scat of the Baron Dubois de Vroeylande at 

 Marie-Leerne. The road on both sides was lined with 

 large forest trees, forming apparently an interminable ave- 

 nue, of invariable straightness, and perfectly flat. 



V'dla of M. Meulemecster. 

 We s<xm reached M. MeulemeesterV, and readily obtain- 

 ed permission to view the garden and grounds. This has, 

 at. one period, been an elegant villa, and formed at very 

 considerable expense; but it is not at present dressed with 

 that taste and care ivhich it merits. The chief gardener. 



