220 JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. [ September 8, 1881. 
it freely, for they wash the outsides as well as the insides of the 
houses ; but soap, in the hotels at any rate, appears scarce. My 
friends of the gardening fraternity ask me far more questions on 
the customs, &c., of the country than about plants, therefore I 
make no apology for mentioning these matters here. There was 
a time when I should have been glad of such information, and 
hence I conclude it may be useful to others, for, to speak para¬ 
doxically, it is certain that a number of persons go to Belgium 
every year “ for the first time,” and in all probability the numbers 
will increase. I will, however, say something about plants by- 
and-by, for I have a headful of them which I shall be glad to 
have emptied. 
Cabmen are, I think, generally pretty smart all the world over, 
and my Belgian jehu, though youthful, was old enough to take his 
observations before taking me. I hailed cab after cab on landing, 
but the drivers looked straight over my head. I soon perceived 
that I was neglected because alone. The more passengers the 
more money, and the “parties” were first picked out, individuals 
having to wait their turn. They appear to know just a little 
English—“shillings” for instance, and are good enough to take 
them in lieu of francs if you are not better provided. The first 
time I went to Belgium I neglected to provide myself with Belgian 
money. My first cab fare was, I knew, 3 francs—2 s. Gd., but 
nothing but 3s. would satisfy. A half-crow n did not appear to 
be understood at all. It was “ tree francs—tree chillings,” and 
by the want of the former I was chilled out of sixpence. 
Antwerp is a city of extremes ; you find the roughest of people 
about the quays, and the most polished and polite in the town. 
You find the oldest and some of the ugliest buildings imaginable, 
and also modern erections of an imposing character. You find 
the narrowest and most angular of streets you can think of, and 
broad, open, and gracefully curving boulevards. You find the 
dingiest of “estaminets” or taverns, and the most beautiful of 
caffis and best of hotels. You find all sorts of religious tableaux 
sculptured and gilded on the corners of houses, and not one per 
cent, of the people going to church. Sundays are as other days, 
except being more gay, in this good old Catholic town, and those 
who are very strict in their devotions go straight from mass to 
sccu’ar concerts. The cathedral and churches are very beautiful, 
and appear to be always open ; and even there you may see con¬ 
trasts—in the intense devotion of some visitors and the play of 
the children, who rush in and count their beads—makiDg a race of 
it—and out again at tier games, apparently enjoying the fun 
immensely. You find excellent horses in the drays and miserable 
hacks in carriages, and the only dogs fit to be seen are yoked 
either singly or in pairs or running tandem in vehicles of various 
kinds, especially milk carts. The utility observable is very stern. 
Even dogs do the churning ; and the pleasures of the people, when 
they do indulge in them, are earnest too. At the communal fetes 
it would seem as if all the pleasure fairs in the country had con¬ 
gregated together in the city, and had the weather been finer there 
would have been quite a carnival. 
The horticultural show', that has been described, was a promi¬ 
nent feature, and the nursery of Mr. Charles Van Geert, one of 
the oldest and most esteemed of Belgian horticulturists, was a 
centre of attraction to many, and his hospitality to his visitors 
was worthy of the occasion. Some account of this and other 
nurseries, and of the winter garden and improvements at Laeken, 
must be postponed, as they do not pertain to the “ first day ” of 
any “ week in Belgium.”— J. Weight. 
DOUBLE IIELICHRYSUMS. 
No half-hardy annuals have afforded me as much pleasure this 
season as a collection of double Helichrysums. It is much to be 
regretted that they are not better knowm. I know nothing that 
will give a richer and more serviceable return for so little trouble. 
I am now having a rich harvest of beautiful flowers from a two- 
shilling collection of seed. This was sowm early in spring in a 
box, and after well hardening the young plants they were dibbled 
out 2 feet by 1 apart, in a good rich soil. They are more beauti¬ 
ful in a large mass like this than when dotted about. Of the 
many improvements of all classes of flowers of late, I see nothing 
more striking than with these. We now have almost every 
shade of colour possible. Looking at a mass of the flowers before 
quite open, we are reminded of the Persian Ranunculus. I must 
yet speak of one or two invaluable properties of this neglected 
Everlasting. Not the least is the long time it keeps in flower. 
The last three weeks has been a trying time, and most garden 
plants have been woefully disfigured. Not so these. At night and 
on wet dull days their shell-like petals are closed up (without 
the flower is old), and only induced to unfold by warmth and 
sunshine. They are the best of Everlastings, gathered just when 
half open and hung up in any shaded airy room. We use them 
largely for church decoration. Lastly, I find these Helichrysums 
have not only been wonderfully improved in colours but also in 
character of growth. They formerly were tall lanky plants 
(and there are many such now), but I am glad to find that most 
of them are of a dwarf branching habit. This is a great ac¬ 
quisition. Many grow not more than 8 to 10 inches high and as 
much through, while others run to 2 to 3 feet high. The dwarfs 
are exquisite and will yet shine in the ribbon borders and flower 
beds. I mean to try them there next summer. I have only now 
to thank our continental friends for the improvement they made 
in this lovely flower, and ask them to select us a good strain of a 
dwarf compact habit and distinct colours ; for such there will be 
a ready sale.— John Taylok, Hardwiclie Grange, Shrewsbury. 
THE ART OF COLOURING GRAPES. 
Theee is no doubt that “ Single-handed ” is right in saying 
it is the want of air that prevents Grapes colouring which are 
situated far away from the ventilators, while those which are 
near colour perfectly. One would think at first sight, that when 
the ventilators are open both at the back and front sufficiently 
to keep a house comparatively cool, there would be a perfect 
current of air which should be ample for all purposes. But I am 
convinced that colour is not produced by any particular degree 
of temperature, neither will a certain number of cubic feet of 
fresh air per minute always produce it. The colouring agent, 
whatever it may be, is extracted from the air by the foliage, and 
it is natural to suppo.se that as the quantity is limited, that foliage 
with which it first comes in contact has the best chance of getting 
a supply ; and there is no doubt that, though all the fruit in com¬ 
mon depends on the roots and the foliage in general for its supply 
of raw material, yet local fruit depends on local foliage for its 
quality and finish. This being so, large panes of glass with 
puttied laps are not so likdly to produce good colour as smaller 
panes with abundance of small apertures, and I thii k this will be 
found to be so in practice where there is no effort made to counter¬ 
act the effects of the almost airtight glazing. Black Grapes of 
the Hamburgh class I consider want more air to colour them per¬ 
fectly than other Grapes do. Taking one season with another, I have 
never seen Hamburghs exhibited with such colour and finish as 
Mr. Henderson of Cole Orton used to exhibit them, and I have 
always understood that his houses were glazed with small panes, 
and that they were far from being weather-proof. I am not, 
nevertheless, going to advise a return to the small panes, but of 
that more anon. 
Most Vines I believe are trained too near the glass. All the 
foliage which is most exposed to the light, and which ought there¬ 
fore to be of the greatest benefit to the Vines, has its upper sur¬ 
face pressing close to the glass, and is thus to a great extent 
prevented exercising its natural functions. Thorough ventilation 
of dormitories is of little use where the occupants will persist in 
covering their heads with the blankets, yet some of us act almost 
as inconsistently as this with our Vines. We give air no doubt to 
the house, but to be successful we must go farther than that—we 
must do as sensible people do when they distribute charity, see 
that it goes where it is most needed. I have said that the leaves 
pressing against the glass are unable to perform their natural 
functions ; they are not only rendered impotent themselves as 
regards inhalations and exhalations, but by preventing the circu¬ 
lation of air and obstructing the rays of light they deprive a great 
portion of the plant of its vital necessaries. 
The remedy, then, for bad colouring with Grapes otherwise so 
well managed as those described by “ Single-handed ” is more 
air in such a way that the foliage can have the full benefit of it. 
Four feet apart is quite near enough for Vine rods—mine have 
more space than that—and 2 feet from the glass is not too far; 
the upper portion of the Vines under my charge have a space 
of 6 feet between them and the glass, and there being nothing 
to prevent the air gaining direct access to every leaf, merits and 
demerits as far as colouring is concerned are equally distributed. 
There is another advantage in having Vines trained further 
from the glass than they generally are which is worth noticing. 
Everyone knows how difficult it is to tie the young growths down 
in spring, and when tied as we think safely during the day they 
will often snap off when they become more rigid at night, and 
leave a piece of bare stem. “ Single-handed ” and others re¬ 
commend training them in V-fashion. I leave them alone with 
the exception of stopping the points till the Grapes are ready to 
thin, when they are easily bent to any form, and are tied down as 
we proceed with the thinniDg. 
Besides a saving of time and some branches there is no doubt 
that the upright natural position is favourable to the setting of the 
