GHENT. 71 



much gratified as we advanced. The soil and situation are 

 naturally well adapted for such plants ; and it is scarcely 

 an exaggeration to say, that, on entering these grounds, 

 one may suppose himself suddenly transported to North 

 America, — such is the luxuriance of the growth of Mag- 

 nolias, Rhododendrons, Kalmias, Ledums, Azaleas, An- 

 dromedas, and Vacciniums, and such the profusion with 

 which they are scattered over a space between two and 

 three acres in extent. They are generally planted in 

 clumps or compartments of various shapes, with grass lawns 

 intervening; sometimes on little islets, or on peninsular 

 projections ; for an irregularly shaped piece of water occu- 

 pies the middle of the grounds, and communicates with the 

 exterior canal. On some occasions, different genera are 

 grouped ; on others, several species of the same genus are 

 associated ; and it often happens, that the clump is com- 

 posed of numerous plants of the same species. In one 

 place we met with a little grove of Magnolia tripetala, and 

 in another with a thicket of Rhododendron ponticum. 



We never before saw Magnolias in such perfection. 

 M. glauca and purpurea were particularly large and fine. 

 In Scotland the latter species can hardly exist in the open 

 border ; but here, one specimen measured at the base no 

 less than three feet in circumference ; almost immediately 

 dividing into numerous shoots or branches, and forming a 

 very fine head, the highest point of which rose, by estima- 

 tion, thirty feet high. M. acuminata and M. grandiflora 

 were both likewise in great vigour and beauty ; and M. fus- 

 cata, which requires to be treated, as a greenhouse plant 

 with us, here stands in the open air. Two specimens of 

 M. tripetala, planted near to each other, covered a space 

 thirty-six feet in length, by perhaps half as much in breadth : 

 Mr Hay measured the stem of each immediately above the 



