114 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ August 6, 18E'li 
garden of about thirty acres may be said to be conducted on Journal 
lines ; it is cropped with English seeds, contains plants from our various 
nurseries, and is without any doubt a credit to master, mistress, and 
man, for they all join happily together in the work. As bearing on the 
English connection, an event of the dinner table may be mentioned, as 
it caused a little amusement. Among the letters brought in was one 
containing the portrait of an English florist : no, there was no letter, but 
only a smiling face, “ with compliments.” It was handed to me for 
recognition, with the remark, “ This is one of the pleasant ways of the 
English ; your friend does not say one word about the bill I have not 
yet paid, but sends me this ; he is very kind and thoughtful, and shall 
have his money.” I could not help thinking there was a thoughtful 
man in Belgium, too, who thus expressed his appreciation of the pictorial 
presentation. 
And now, lest it should be supposed I am makiDg too much of the 
Belgian garden, saying more about it than it deserves, I will adduce 
supporting testimony. Some persons who travel beyond their own 
country are said to view everything abroad through rose-coloured 
spectacles of considerable magnifying power, and therefore are prone to 
disparage home work, manners, and customs accordingly. No doubt 
many persons can remember how greatly they were impressed on a first 
inspection of something “ abroad ” they had longed to see; how on a 
second visit the object was less striking, and on a third was only 
of an ordinary character. They then began to feel there is something 
worth seeing at home after all. In gardening there undoubtedly is, 
indeed, broadly speaking, and taking a wide survey of all branches of 
the art, there are not many persons who can see things as they are, and 
who know what they see, who will refuse to concede that there are no 
better cultivators in the world than the best British gardeners. The farther 
I go and the more gardens I visit the greater is my pride in the cultural 
capacity of my countrymen. But this must not prevent a just and 
fair description, however “rosy” it may seem, of the work of others 
wherever it may be found, and by whomsoever conducted and accom¬ 
plished. Mr. Everaerts’ garden is not to me of diminishing but increasing 
interest on each recurring visit, including the last, and possibly to remain 
so, though the thought is not one of the most pleasant on which to dwell. 
Here is the confirmatory evidence I am able to adduce from a gentleman 
who has seen many gardens both in Belgium and in Britain that the garden 
in question is distinctly noteworthy :—“ One mass of Cypripedium spec- 
tabile more than 3 feet across with bright green foliage, from which 
emerge fifty-three fine blooms ; standard Boses, 12 feet high and as much 
through, covered with hundreds of flowers ; and a border of Gnaphalium 
Leontopodium (Edelweiss) in full bloom, and measuring 150 feet long 
by 5 feet wide, are features seldom met with, and which I had the 
pleasure of admiring last week at our friend, Mr. J. Everaerts’, beautiful 
seat at Vieux-Dieu. 
“No place in this country is richer in plants, and I daresay that in 
very few is the culture of plants so well understood as it is here. Col¬ 
lections of deciduous trees and shrubs, Conifers, Rhododendrons, and 
evergreens generally, herbaceous, and especially of alpine plants, are 
very complete. Such things as the rarer Gentianas, Primulas, &c., 
Rhododendrons ferrugineum,hirsutum, and their red and white varieties, 
and many other scarce plants are represented by grand specimens, 
and skilfully distributed on the large rockery which you know so 
well. Most of the alpines grown on the rockery were collected by 
Mr. and Mrs. Everaerts themselves on their different tours on the Alps. 
Mr. Everaerts rises early in the morning and remains with his plants 
until business calls him to town —in fact, he spends all his spare time 
with them. The watering of the plants deserves special mention. It is 
done in a peculiar manner—for instance, plants requiring constant 
moisture at the roots are flanked with a good sized flower pot made to 
hold water, a band of cloth hangs out of it, supplying the moisture 
drip by drip in the way of a syphon. Mr. Everaerts found out several 
other combinations, speaking highly in favour of his inventive character; 
the consequence is that plants do remarkably well. I never saw, for 
instance, such masses of Linnaea borealis creeping on the rockery. They 
are a yard across and in great luxuriance. 
“ Mrs. Everaerts is as great an amateur as her distinguished husband. 
She is very fond of Roses and Ferns. The leaves of the latter are dried 
with care, pressed between sheets of silky paper and used as elegant 
lamp screens, which she makes with great taste, and distributes to her 
friends as souvenirs of their visit to her country residence. 
“ Among fine trees may be mentioned several examples of G-leditschia 
inermis and triacanthos, and a very fine Tulip Tree (Liriodendron). 
Among Conifers really grand specimens of Abies G-ordoniana, lasiocarpa, 
Menziesi, Douglasi, and Nordmanniana. Of each of the two latter 
there are about a dozen splendid trees from 30 to 40 feet high. The 
newer species are also all represented in good-sized specimens. Tsuga 
Hookeriana, two plants of the largest known in this country. Crypto- 
meria Lobbi deserves special mention. This noble tree is about 30 feet 
high and of a perfect pyramidal form. At a distance I took it for a fine 
Wellingtonia, of which it has the habit. It has not suffered in the 
least by frost. 
“ Japanese Acers, especially the purple-leaved varieties, do well here and 
have proved quite hardy. I admired a bed of Kalmia latifolia surrounded 
by Kalmia nana rubra. It was covered with flowers, and most effective. 
I need not to speak of the fine border of herbaceous and bulbous plants, 
which you know very well, and are, I think, unsurpassed in Belgium. 
“ There are a good many orchard and plant houses, one of which has 
now been converted into a fernery by Mrs. Everaerts, and filled with the 
choicest and finest sorts. 
“ The soil being of a sandy loam fruit trees do well. We find all the 
leading sorts of Grape Vines, including the English varieties, numerous, 
and well grown pyramid Pears, standard Apples, Apricots, Plums, and 
Cherries in quantity, and all of choice quality. Vegetables and small 
fruits are fine and abundant. 
“ The gardener, Mr. Jean Borffi, has been now some twenty-eight 
years in his situation, and is as much liked by his master and mistres3 as 
he respects them. The farm premises have been rebuilt, all being 
exceedingly well kept, and as clean as I ever saw any in Holland 
(celebrated for its cleanliness). Mr. Everaerts procured a farmer from 
Switzerland, who evidently knows his business well.” 
The above letter was spontaneous and unexpected. It is a simple 
record of the impressions made by a recent visit. It is a fair, just, and 
true description of what is unquestionably a well furnished, well kept, 
and much-loved garden, which all true garden lovers are welcome to 
inspect. 
The drives in the surrounding country with Mr. Borr4 as guide and 
interpreter were full of interest. A call was made at Mr. flavenith’s 
establishment, where Grapes and bullocks are grown extensively for 
market ; also on Mr. Sels, who has thirty or forty vineries in a village, 
the name of which cannot be remembered. He crops his Vines enor¬ 
mously ; the prices for Grapes being lower than in England, only heavy 
crops are found to “ pay,” but the quality is below the English standard 
of excellence. 
The villages passed through appeared nearly deserted, as all the 
people, men, women, and children, seem to work on the land, and 
certainly ten times more were observed thus employed than are seen on 
an equal area in England, except in Strawberry fields in July. Let 
us hope they are all as happy as they appear to be. 
To Mr. and Mrs. Everaerts and their excellent gardener thanks may 
be permitted to be here most cordially rendered for manifold kindnesses 
received by—I had nearly said John Bull and his wife, but mean—a 
typical pair of natives— Darby and Joan. 
INSECTS OF THE FLOWER GARDEN. 
(Continued from page 3S4, last Vol.~) 
My experiences amongst gardeners generally have convinced 
me that they are intelligent men, not simply in their special 
department, but in other matters that may call forth their powers ; 
but I must own that some of them seem to have a difficulty in 
grasping what are really easy entomological distinctions. This is 
the more remarkable, because they are frequently called upon to 
discriminate between species and varieties of plants, and are there¬ 
fore, for the most part, quick observers. Here is a point which I 
have noticed cause perplexity, the difference between the true 
caterpillars which produce butterflies or moths, and the false or 
pseudo-caterpillars which develope finally into sawflies. It is not 
so much a question of name, that of caterpillar may be as fitting 
for one as for the other, both being devourers of vegetable sub¬ 
stances and strippers of foliage, but successful measures for the 
suppression of hurtful insects depend largely on a full acquaint¬ 
ance with the habits or economy of the species that are to be 
guarded against. Still, it must be allowed that some of the mock 
caterpillars of sawflies appear, at first sight, very similar to those 
of the Lepidoptera, yet they belong to the primary division of the 
Hymenopterous order, which though it contains so many trouble¬ 
some foes, also enrols a host of insects that are the friends or 
helpers of the gardener. 
The flower garden offers special attractions to a large number 
of the insects of this division. Some are drawn to it by the flowers, 
which supply them with honey and pollen; some seek it because it 
furnishes them with insects they prey upon ; and some, like the 
sawflies, visit it in order to attack the leaves or stems of plants. 
A very comprehensive order of insects this, embracing the ants, 
wasps, and bees, which rank as the most intelligent of the race, 
and also comprehending, besides the sawfly group, the remarkable 
brotherhood of the ichneumon flies, so destructive to other insects, 
through their habit of deposing eggs in or upon the bodies of their 
victims while in the early stage of existence. A portion also of these 
four-winged insects are makers of galls, but the two-winged flies 
produce some of them. 
We begin with the species to which allusion was made at the 
commencement, those iwhich, as larvae, consume the buds, leaves, 
or occasionally the flowers of plants ; and which, from their 
frequently feeding in companies, are very observable. Exceptions 
there are, as in the case of the sawfly larva, which sometimes swarms 
upon hedges of Hawthorn and Bramble ; this conceals itself during 
the day within the bushes and comes forth to feed at dusk, 
probably thus escaping insectivorous birds. But I rather think 
that some of them, from their exposed manner of feeding, are not 
apprehensive of any danger, and are shunned by birds, which have 
their fancies in the matter of insect food. The abundant species 
infesting the Gooseberry is an example, as it is stated to be eaten 
only by the cuckoo. This sawfly caterpillar is often confused with 
that of the Gooseberry moth, and such caterpillars have certainly 
