Mav 2r, i 



THE 



GARDENERS' MAGAZINE. 



327 



M 



OF BRUGES 



rc ihP capital of the Belgian province of West Flanders, is an interesting 

 B .f £ S, bi?n^iSd« one thS retains but a remnant of the gloiy it possessed 

 M ,u LrSentrcentury, when it was the chief commercial centre of Europe. It 

 £ ^^SSSefand I half from the coast, and connected with it b y broad and 

 a n LnaXt are available for vessels of considerable size. With many of its 

 t\ * ^Tories the commercial fame of the City of Bridges has largely passed away, 

 Til tfe seSms to have been done to make good the loss by modern methods, as 

 ?h n eS one quarter of its population of over 48,000 persons 



1 Xerl will prove. The city wears a sleepy air and one could imagine 

 ™pS dropped back suddenly into medieval times, but for the dress of the 

 S You see more sabots at Bruges than at Ghent, and more folks dressed 

 , P n the older-fashioned provincial style of tall peaked cap and ample blouse for the 

 men and ample head-gear (or entire lack of any for occasional contrast) with 

 mlnured shawls for the women. Bruges contemplates the height from which she 

 has fallen, while other of the old Flemish cities have to a large extent become 

 rejuvenated. 



The fortes, or gateways, of the city are well preserved, and wich the ramparts 

 serve to remind us that Bruges once had a great trade to guard, and guarded it 

 well. These old gateways are highly picturesque, and are mostly situated at the 

 end of a canal bridge. Not far from the fine railway station is the Gothic cathedral 

 of St. Saveur ; as compared with the cathedral at Antwerp it is a poor affair 

 exteriorly, but inside it is amply proportioned and beautifully decorated, while it 

 contains paintings by such celebrated artists as Van Dost, Jean Bethune, and 

 Dierick Bouts. The church of Notre Dame, with a spire three hundred and 

 ninety-five feet high, is a conspicuous building of some beauty, and said to contain 

 many very fine works of art. The ancient palace of the Courts of Flanders has 

 practically disappeared, but Bruges contains several museums, library, academy, 

 and Palais de Justice, not forgetting the celebrated Belfry, commenced in 1282, 

 and rising to a height of three hundred and fifty-two feet ; it contains a grand set 

 of chimes that are only to be heard to full advantage on certain days of the week. 

 Everyone has heard that — 



u In the market place of Bruges, 



Stands the Belfry, old and brown ; 

 Thrice consumed and thrice rebuilded, 

 It watches o'er the town." 



If the city of Bruges is now no longer a great centre or silks, linen and 

 woollen goods, it yet has another string to its bow. This string is its increasing 

 horticultural trade, for both inside, but more extensively outside, the city bound- 

 aries, nurseries are increasing in number and extent, and all seem to be flourishing. 

 Many of these firms do a very large export trade and employ a large number of men 

 and women ; others do an almost purely market business in plants and cut flowers 

 of a choice character. Some grow liliums extensively, others orchids ; while a few 

 devote their attention mostly to the seed trade and a more local business. The 

 Bruges nurseries seem to be largely grouped along the south and west sides of the 

 city, and one comes upon them immediately after passing out of either the Porte 

 d'Ostende, the Porte de Gand, the Hazelporte, or other of the gateways towards 

 the south and south-west. 



Arrived at Bruges station, you will, if horticulturally inclined, turn sharp to 

 the left after giving up your ticket, and, crossing the railway that leads to Ostend, 

 take a direction almost due south. In a few minutes the pedestrian will be outside 

 the city and clear of the cobble-stone and paving that spoil both boots and 

 temper ; here you emerge upon a country road, lined with trees and margined with 

 ditches. Passing a wayside farrier's shop, and strings of farm and wood carts, 

 drawn by stocky Flemish horses, open country appears an either hand, but in the 

 near distance you catch sight of a broad expanse of glass roofing that tells of some 

 enterprising nurseryman. In one point, at least, the proprietor differs from the 

 nurserymen around him— he does not paint his name in black letters across the 

 whitened front of the most prominent building in the establishment. Who then 

 is the peat unknown ? Unknown ! ! Why, this is the continental branch of the 

 bt. Albans nurseries of Messrs. F. Sander and Co. 



Some member of the firm is sure to be at the Bruges establishment, and during 

 the recent Ghent Exhibition it was as much as Mr. F. Sander, his three sons, Mr. 

 ijodseff, and several foremen could do to pilot parties of visitors round the establish- 

 ment, and get through the usual business. Already a hundred houses, all built 

 1 pi f ch P lne » have been erected, and all are well stocked ; the houses vary in 

 ength, but many of them are very long, in three divisions, and running into a 

 long corridor at one end, the corrider serving as potting shed and storage for im- 



^°tWA °F chids > The nursery has an area of twenty-five acres ; more than 

 a tmrd is covered with glass houses, and still others are in course of construction, 

 n ma i so f * r as glass is concerned this establishment bids fair to exceed in extent 

 any other of its kind on the Continent. 



The brickwork is composed of small and very dense red bricks, and presents 

 thl?U!^ a PP? 1 arance - The woodwork, as previously noted, is pitch pine, so 

 that uYk durab,llt y and smart appearance have been secured ; the roofs are light, 

 lomr n 1S wide throu g hout > so tha t all possible light is admitted. In the 



a kvpr r 1 ? es the sta S in g is mostly iron, and double ; on the lower iron stage 

 wn^« ♦ • Vard manure is placed, and over this is arranged a light and open 

 titvT g i ng u 0n which the P lants rest ' Rou 8 h toba cco is also placed in quan- 

 Dron?rr , t 6 ' where heat and moisture c an extract from it its insecticidal 

 of the ™ i° r * he l bencfit of th * P^nts. Shading is almost entirely done by means 

 menu u bhnds so Popular and extensively used in continental establish- 



seem tA !?! s *) a ^ ln g br ^ks up and diffuses the sunbeams, and yet it does not 

 10 materially lessen the amount of light that would otherwise pass through. 



of azalea culture at the Sanderian establishment at Bruges. There are tiny 

 azaleas, medium sized and large specimen azaleas, azaleas on the floors, stages, and 

 on shelves close up to the roof ; azaleas in pots and azaleas planted out, and by 

 far the greater number were planted on the stages, though since transferred to open 

 quarters for the summer. Vervaeneana, Deustche Perle, Sigismund Rucker, 

 Simon Mardner, Roi des Beiges, Ceres, Empress of India, Comte Oswald de 

 Kerchove, and Borsig, are among the most extensively cultivated varieties. These, 

 and very many other kinds being represented by fine stocks that should be first- 

 rate for next season's flowering. 



Sweet Bays are not less numerous here than at other Belgian nurseries of 

 note ; there are long rows of healthy well-developed specimens, both pyramid 

 and standard shaped, and in many sizes. The wonder is how the enormous 

 stocks of bays can be stored each autumn in the big sheds where they winter. 

 Big bays do not grow up in a night, like Jonah's gourd, but have to be grown for 

 many years ere they reach a profitable size. Several houses are devoted to 

 camellias, and the collection is extensive in its variety. Araucaria excelsa is 

 cultivated in such quantities that quoting figures would be but to bring upon 

 myself the indignation of those who have not seen the stocks here, and who 

 would imagine my signature should be 11 Longbow." rather than what it is. 



Palms arrest the attention by reason of their abundance, cleanliness, and 

 general health. There are hundreds of thousands of them, varying in size from 

 the midget, in a thumb pot, to big waving specimens in large pots or tubs. It is 

 quite unnecessary to pass down one side and up the other in these palm-houses, 

 for those that meet the gaze upon opening the door form a sample of the general 

 contents, so a walk of some hundred and thirty yards is saved — many of the 

 houses are two hundred feet long. The Date Palms, Phoenix rupicola and P. 

 reclinata ; Cocoa-nut Palms, such as the towering Cocos plumosus and the beautiful 

 C. Weddeliana ; fan palms, such as Latania borbonica and Licuala grandis ; 

 Kentias, chiefly K. Belmoreana, K. Forsteriana, and the new and elegant 

 geonoma-like K. Sanderiana; Cabbage Palms, notably Areca Baueri and A. 

 lutescens ; and the Chinese Rhapis flabelliformis, and its Japanese relative, R. 

 humilis— these are the principal palms seen at this Bruges nursery, though not a 

 few other sorts are grown, but in lesser quantities. 



While selective culture is the chief order at this modern nursery, yet collection 

 has not been altogether forgotten, and the variety of plants to be seen is greater 

 than at many another Belgian establishment. Here are to be seen large batches 

 of the popular Pandanus Veitchi and the once-common P. utilis, of Vriesia 

 tessellata and Eucharis Sanderiana, Dracaena Sanderiana and the spreading D. 

 Godseffiana, D. indivisa and Ficus elastica, Saintpaulia ionantha, gloxinias and 

 foliage begonias, dasylirions and anthuriums, Myrsiphyllum asparagoides and 

 green and variegated aspidistras, nepenthes and bertoloirias — and so one might 

 continue. An enumeration of all the plants grown here would prove interesting, 

 but space forbids. Everything, however, is on a large scale, and the houses neat 

 and clean, and the plants as healthy and vigorous as even the proprietor could 

 wish. The ground not covered by glass-houses, offices, bay-sheds, stables, pack- 

 ing-sheds, &c., is being brought under cultivation ; as indicated, a very large area 

 is necessary for the azaleas during summer. Another large slice is devoted to the 

 choicer liliums, including half a million of the pure white Lilium speciosum 



Kraetzeri. 



One naturally expects to see orchids a prominent feature wherever the Messrs. 

 Sander go, and certainly the visitor to Bruges will not be disappointed. Here, 

 as at St. Albans, the better known and most popular sorts are grown in quantity 

 sufficient to fill half a house, or it may be two or three houses, and there can be no 

 doubt that when grown in bulk and treated exactly in accordance with require- 

 ments, orchids of almost all kinds do their best. The first range covers 

 Odontoglossum grande and Lrelia anceps, many thousands of each. Then follow 

 odontoglossums innumerable, some of them pretty little plants establishing 

 themselves contentedly in leafeoil and sphagnum ; others sturdy specimens in larger 

 receptacles, and many of them carrying long graceful spikes of handsome blooms. 

 O. crispum, O. luteo-purpureum, O. Halli, O. Wilckeanum, O. Ruckerianum, 

 O. sceptrum, O. Rossi majus, O. Cervantesi, O. Harryanum, O. odoratum, and 

 O*. cirrhosum were those most in evidence by reason of their flower spikes, and 

 here and there these were grouped effectively with begonias and other foliage 

 plants. There are big colonies of Loelia purpurata and the lovely cattleya 

 Schroder^, the latter flowering freely and the former bristling with fat flower 

 sheaths There appeared to be enough of Lrclia purpurata to fill one of the tents at the 

 Temple show, and the majority were first-rate specimens in pans twelve by twenty 

 inches across. All the cattleyas of commercial value are here to be found, from the 

 labiate forms to the tall stemmed guttata section, from the striking C. Acklandiae to 

 the fragrant C. citrina. 



ass porches t 



azaleas 



There are crowds cf Lycaste Skinnerion, under and over the stages, all in good 

 iv „ on/m^tlv oroducing excellent flowers. Oncidum sarcodes and O. 



C ° n nH a r m ma,C tth C attractive orchids, naturally occupy much space, 

 amphatum ma us, bo h very Miltonians must not ^ 



while the popula JP"P e ™ e d ranks of Rodriguezias. The pretty Stenoglottis 

 unmentioned, nor the suspense, r & pre ttiest of cool orchids, and 



longifolia also deserves ;a noUce, fo :t r one o P ^ . d 



lasts a very long time mi owen & 0ncidium ti g rinum , &c . Behind the 



•Wchld^ saAjl 04*to£*«5 Q V short houses % n d here are to be seen 



principal blocks ther i « i a ^smaii g ^ ^ m drufsi ^ 



some of he choicest of orchis- a y w ^ — ^ Q ^ 



staged along with other cho ce and J£ £ frit have yet 



tilum g^^^ScX having C. Curtisi, C. niveum, C. Roeblingianum, 

 to make th ^Z C Szne, and others for parents. Then this range also covers 

 C ' ^JSffSS^tSSKm "edlings, minute plants as yet, but still up and 

 a small batc j 1 ^^ n °" t a °|' ood deal of speculation as to their ultimate accomplish- 

 growing and * K ltA]s / the resu lt of carefully considered crossing 



l ^rL tov like Plants in tiny thimble-like pots and each with its small 

 beautiful little toy- l Ke pian« 7 r ^nidendrums and 



recentiv^r U J* 1 °\ ock ot nous es, azaleas ot all the newer and finer kinds were beautiful uttie ioy-...*<= r-"" cattlevas are also here, and epidendrums and 

 ■KTaii?W' and these bein g covered with bl0 °™ ™de a dazzling display. celluloid labe f^^!^ 1 ^^ ?Zo«Znce 1 1, however, capable of 



all^idT'Sey'nnd 5 the T ^ ?* 1™ ^ ^ ' J? de ^^'!^^^ ^^^^^ of * e kind ~* <>' 



^7 find the ,. cw.r th,n tK. — - f^P^^ff^ However careful the worker 



may be the r esuus ^ ^ ^ intermeddU of man whi i e a t others she re- 



m ° S ^ i^S care, and patience by a wonderful combination-such combina- 

 i hav? S ftiSTto timfappeared from the St. Albans establishment and 

 tions as nav e i r firstdis j their ^^^1 forms or exquisite colour- 



" J f - • Serv»tor. 



ridce La Y Y v the demand is greater than the supply. Huge blocks of 

 these nlan U h° W CS contained thrifty specimens of these Indian azaleas, but 

 oak-leaf m ia*' " e thls ' been P ,ante <l in their summer quarters in a compost of 

 devoted tn ° i the natural sand y soil of th e district. Thirty houses are 

 *as the t 5 as » and one of the prettiest sights to those fond of plant raising 

 fi Gures tcl ?k hundred thousand azalea stocks for subsequent grafting. These 

 a »leM al C ?" th the stat ement that here there are about six thousand seedling 



;ng Rt th~ Bruges brcn:h. 



